NEW ORLEANS – A New Orleans man looking to deal more than $2,000 worth of ecstasy pills in Destrehan before being stopped by deputies in St. Charles Parish last year was sentenced to 18 years in prison Tuesday, according to a release from U.S. Attorney Jim Letten.

Clyde Sistrunk, 41, was part of an undercover investigation on Sept. 24, 2008 by the St. Charles Sheriff’s Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration when he was arrested on drug possession charges.

Sistrunk, a former Illinois resident, was on his way to deliver a large amount of ecstasy to a home in Destrehan when he led officers on a high-speed chase along Airline Highway. He was finally apprehended after authorities laid out road spikes to disable his vehicle. Following the high-speed pursuit, Sistrunk jumped into a canal in an attempt to escape deputies. The release said that the water dissolved the drugs he had on him, but a search of his New Orleans home uncovered 4,000 tabs of ecstasy. He later admitted to authorities he had once been in possession of more than 50,000 doses of the drug.

Sistrunk pleaded guilty to possession of ecstasy with the intent to distribute during a hearing in April.

Representatives from the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office, the New Orleans Police Department and several law enforcement agencies in Illinois aided in the investigation that netted Sistrunk.