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Press Release
SHREVEPORT, La. – Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced that a Shreveport woman was sentenced Monday to 46 months in prison for her role in a cocaine and methamphetamine distribution operation in Caddo, Bossier, DeSoto and Red River parishes.
Linda G. Brown, 61, of Shreveport, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. on one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. She was also sentenced to three years of supervised release. According to the guilty plea, the defendant along with co-defendants Shawn F. Swift, 36; Ricky R. Swift, 64; and Jarvis Randle, 29, all of Shreveport, conspired to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine and cocaine base from January of 2013 to October of 2014 in Caddo, Bossier, DeSoto and Red River parishes. Agents conducted controlled buys and monitored communications between the defendants as they planned and sold illegal drugs. Shawn Swift operated the drug sales with the other defendants out of the family home in Shreveport, and they distributed them to the surrounding areas.
They also forfeited 39 weapons seized during the investigation of this case and more than $360,000. Of that total, $89,700 was seized during a traffic stop on September 21, 2014; $237,753 was seized from the home of Ricky Swift and Linda Brown on October 21, 2014; and $40,457 was seized from the home of Shawn Swift on October 21, 2014.
Randle, pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge on April 27, 2015; Ricky Swift pleaded guilty on June 1, 2015 to one count of laundering monetary instruments; and Shawn Swift, pleaded guilty on June 2, 2015 to the conspiracy charge and one count of possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking.
Randle was sentenced on September 8, 2015 to 57 months in prison and three years of supervised release; Shawn Swift was sentenced on March 17, 2016 to 180 months and 10 years of supervised release; Rickey Swift was sentenced on April 6, 2016 to 13 months in prison and two years of supervised release.
The defendants were arrested as part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Operation named “Not So Swift.” The FBI, ATF, DEA, Louisiana State Police, Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office, Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office, DeSoto Parish Sheriff’s Office and Red River Parish Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation. The OCDETF program is a joint federal, state and local cooperative approach to combat drug trafficking and is the nation’s primary tool for disrupting and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations, targeting national and regional level drug trafficking organizations, and coordinating the necessary law enforcement entities and resources to disrupt or dismantle the targeted criminal organization and seize their assets.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys James G. Cowles Jr. and Allison D. Bushnell prosecuted the case.