LAPLACE — A LaPlace man sentenced twice in 2010, once for drug dealing and another time for financial aid fraud, had his sentence reduced last week in a sweeping set of clemency orders issued by President Barack Obama.

Wallace Bourgeois Jr. was one of 98 people who had the their sentences cut short in decisions announced Thursday.

Bourgeois received a 20-year prison sentence in January 2010 after it was reported he sold more than four ounces of crack to a DEA agent in LaPlace and set up the sale of another half-dozen ounces.

He also pleaded guilty in the same month to fraudulently obtaining $7,525 from the Red Cross. He faced a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 and three years of supervised release following jail time.

Instead of being imprisoned until 2030, NOLA.com reported Bourgeois may be released in two years if he enrolls in a residential drug treatment program.

Suspect in reserve couple’s killing cuts deal

A New Orleans man who abandoned a stolen van containing blood remnants of a murdered Reserve couple will serve nine years in prison and work with prosecutors to secure convictions on others charged in relation to the killings.

Frank Mike Jr., 47, previously pleaded guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice for his role in the murder plots of Kenneth and Lakeitha Joseph, who were found dead in the Intercoastal Waterway in New Orleans East in March 2014. News of his new deal was reported Friday.

According to court records, on Feb. 19, 2014, family members reported to the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Department that Kenneth and Lakeitha Joseph were missing.

A relative indicated she loaned her 2010 Dodge Grand Caravan to the Josephs but that the van had not been returned. On Feb. 27, 2014, the missing 2010 Dodge Grand Caravan was recovered by the Fulton County Police Department in College Park, Ga., at an apartment complex.