New Orleans Man Sentenced For Firearm Possession to Further Drug Trafficking

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – Today, Acting United States Attorney Michael M. Simpson announced that JOSHUA WILLIAMS (“WILLIAMS”), age 21, was sentenced on March 27, 2025 by Chief U.S. District Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown to 75 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release, along with a $100 mandatory special assessment fee, after previously pleading guilty to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(i).

According to court documents, on April 4, 2022, New Orleans Police Department officers executed a search warrant at WILLIAMS’s residence. Officers recovered marijuana that WILLIAMS intended to sell and a digital scale. Officers also recovered two firearms—a Glock Model 22, .40 caliber firearm and a Glock Model 19, nine-millimeter firearm—that WILLIAMS possessed, in furtherance of his possession with intent to distribute marijuana.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

The case was investigated by the New Orleans Police Department and the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.  It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mary Katherine Kaufman of the General Crimes Unit.