Two Plead Guilty to Multi-State Heroin Conspiracy, Now Face Decades in Federal Prison

U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that STANLEY FULTON, age 39, of New Orleans, and JASON PAYNE, age 37, of Youngstown, Ohio, yesterday became the last of nine defendants under a Superseding Indictment to plead guilty to a multi-state conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin.

According to court documents, Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) agents, after conducting a series of court-authorized wire intercepts on the cellular phones of New Orleans area heroin dealers, identified co-defendant FREDRICK DOUGLAS BROOKS III as a Houston-based heroin trafficker who was distributing kilogram quantities of heroin at a time to FULTON in New Orleans and PAYNE in Youngstown, using narcotics and bulk cash couriers who have already pled guilty in the case.

U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier scheduled sentencing for October 29, 2015.  FULTON faces a sentence of twenty years to life, and PAYNE faces a sentence of ten years to life.

U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the DEA New Orleans Police Department High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area group, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in investigating this matter with the assistance of the St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office, the St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office, and the Louisiana State Police.  Assistant United States Attorneys Michael B. Redmann and Mark A. Miller were in charge of the prosecution.