San Francisco Man Pleads Guilty in Methamphetamine-Trafficking Conspiracy

NEW ORLEANS –  U.S. Attorney Peter G. Strasser announced that JULIEN POLK, a/k/a “Simone,” age 40, of San Francisco, California, pled guilty today to one count of conspiring to traffic 50 grams of methamphetamine in the Eastern District of Louisiana.  POLK faces a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years in prison, a maximum life sentence, a fine of up to $10,000,000 and at least five years of supervised release.  

POLK is one of eleven defendants charged in a 23-count federal indictment.  Specifically, the indictment alleges that POLK conspired to sell large quantities of methamphetamine with codefendants Stefen Daigle, Peter Giandalone, Paul Melancon, Jeffrey Clines, 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.