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Press Release
Press Release
Press Release
Multi-Agency Investigation Results in Convictions of 20 Defendants for Decade-Long, Multi-Million Dollar Marijuana Trafficking and Money Laundering Conspiracy
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Louisiana
SHREVEPORT– A case that began as an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) case in Shreveport has resulted in the conviction and sentencing of 20 defendants to a combined sentence of over 87 years in federal prison for a drug trafficking conspiracy involving thousands of pounds of marijuana that the conspirators sold for millions of dollars over the course of more than a decade.
“Organized drug trafficking is a menace to our communities, promoting lawlessness, violence, and addiction,” said United States Attorney Zachary A. Keller. “Dismantling these networks lies at the heart of our mission to make our Louisiana communities safe, and this case shows our Office’s ability to work with state, local, and federal law enforcement partners—here, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office and Shreveport Police Department—to do precisely that.”
According to documents and testimony presented in court, Hikmat Deeb worked with others, including Brieon O’Neal and Andrew Brown, to obtain and distribute marijuana in the Western District of Louisiana from 2012 until the time of his arrest in September 2023. The defendants originally obtained marijuana on the West Coast, with the men found by law enforcement to possess large sums of cash at airports in Dallas, Los Angeles, and Seattle that Deeb later admitted to be for the purchase of large quantities of marijuana.
By 2021, Deeb began obtaining marijuana from sources of supply in Oklahoma that included his brother, Rshad Deeb, and Hui He and Yichen He, both Chinese nationals. Hui He owned two properties in Oklahoma that he used for the illegal cultivation and distribution of marijuana and was also connected to a larger marijuana distribution organization. After purchasing the marijuana, Deeb used a network of couriers and salesmen to transport and sell the drugs to the Western District of Louisiana and elsewhere, with the marijuana stored in places like apartment buildings, homes, and an abandoned car lot in Shreveport.
In addition, Deeb’s wife, Jerusalia Bell, laundered many of the proceeds of this conspiracy through a retail clothing line, with Deeb giving her cash from his illegal drug sales to deposit into her business bank account. Bell’s business had nearly $1 million in unreported income between 2020 and 2022 alone, representing the proceeds of this laundering activity from that period.
This case led to substantial prison sentences for several co-conspirators, including Deeb, who was sentenced to more than 18 years in prison, as well as Hui He and Bell, both of whom received sentences of more than eight years in prison. The full list of defendants, their conviction and sentences are as follows:
Hui He a/k/a “Kevin,” 42 Norman, OK |
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Hikmat Jamal Deeb a/k/a “Hek” and “Hector,” 35 Bossier City, LA |
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Brieon O’Neal, 37 Bossier City, LA |
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Andrew O. Brown, 31 Shreveport, LA |
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Rshad Deeb a/k/a “Ray,” 39 Bossier City, LA |
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Modh Fawzi Tbaileh a/k/a “Moody,” 35 Shreveport, LA |
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Trevor J. Osifo, 30 Aubrey, TX |
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Jimmy Lee Mays, Jr., 32 Longview, TX |
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Dajuan Jackson a/k/a “Bando,” 43 Shreveport, LA |
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Yichen He a/k/a “Brian” and “Lin Lin,” 31 Newcastle, OK |
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Javarria Linnear a/k/a “Bubba,” 33 Shreveport, LA |
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Jerusalia S. Bell, 37 Bossier City, LA |
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James Troy Phillips, 37 Shreveport, LA |
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Damarquez Mitchell a/k/a “Quez,” 33 Shreveport, LA |
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Clarissa Monet Holmes, 31 Shreveport, LA |
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Shakera Stringfellow, 27 Shreveport, LA |
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Hadi Deeb, 26 Bossier City, LA |
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Elesia Denee Johnson, 28 Shreveport, LA |
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Adham Jamal Deeb a/k/a “Polo,” 40 Bossier City, LA |
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Cory David Beasley, 39 Shreveport, LA |
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U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks, Jr. is scheduled to sentence the two remaining defendants, Adham Deeb and Cory Beasley, in early 2026 after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Keller for the Western District of Louisiana made the announcement.
Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office and Shreveport Police Department investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica D. Cassidy and J. Aaron Crawford are prosecuting the case.
The investigation and conviction of these defendants originated as part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identified, disrupted, and dismantled the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threatened the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leveraged the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
You may find a copy of this press release (and any updates) on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana at www.justice.gov/usao-wdla.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Western District of Louisiana at www.lawd.uscourts.gov or at https://www.lawd.uscourts.gov/cmecf-pacer, under Case Number 5:23-cr-00214.
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Contact
Public Affairs Unit
United States Attorney’s Office
Western District of Louisiana
Twitter @USAO_WDLA
Updated December 2, 2025
Topic
Drug Trafficking