U.S. Department
of Justice
Press Release
New Orleans Resident Sentenced In Methamphetamine-Trafficking Conspiracy
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Louisiana
NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Peter G. Strasser announced that JEFFREY CLINES, age 53, of New Orleans, was sentenced on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 after pleading guilty to one count of conspiring to traffic 500 grams of a mixture containing methamphetamine in the Eastern District of Louisiana. United States District Judge Susie Morgan sentenced CLINES to a term of imprisonment of 42 months, followed by five years of supervised release.
CLINES is one of eleven defendants charged in a 23-count federal indictment. Specifically, the indictment alleges that CLINES conspired to sell large quantities of methamphetamine with codefendants Stefen Daigle, Peter Giandalone, Paul Melancon, Julien Polk, James Hatch, Angel Renee Vidaure, Eulalio Torres-Cadenas, Delio Alfredo Lopez-Lopez, Lindsey Lopez, and Jacob Higginbotham. The indictment also alleges a number of individual acts of distributing and possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine, as well as firearm offenses for codefendants Hatch, Vidaure, and Lopez-Lopez. Law enforcement developed evidence against this group of defendants using controlled purchases of methamphetamine, traffic stops and seizures, consensually recorded text messages and phone calls, search warrants, cooperator information, and self-incriminating statements.
U.S. Attorney Strasser praised the work of the United States Postal Inspection Service, Louisiana State Police, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Highway Patrol, Montgomery County (Texas) Sheriff’s Office, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, AMTRAK Police, and the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Brandon S. Long is in charge of the prosecution.
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Updated July 24, 2019
Topic
Drug Trafficking
Component