NEW ORLEANS — Described by authorities as a drug dealer who operated above the street level, Troy Kendrick Jr. of Reserve is now facing many decades in jail following his conviction Thursday on drug and weapons charges.

A federal jury convicted Kendrick this week, according to U.S. Attorney Peter G. Strasser, following a four-day trial for conspiring to distribute and possess cocaine and possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony.

Strasser said the trial’s evidence detailed a pattern of behavior between January and August of 2016 detailing Kendrick and his coconspirators’ efforts to sell cocaine in Reserve.

“Kendrick sold cocaine to lower-level drug dealers, who in turn sold powder cocaine and crack cocaine to other dealers and to users,” Strasser said in a release. “In June of 2016, while federal agents had a wiretap on Kendrick’s telephone, Kendrick was involved in a shootout in LaPlace.”

Law enforcement officers arrested Kendrick Aug. 17, 2016, searching his home in the process, where they discovered five firearms, a digital scale, more than $10,000 in cash, a money counter, body armor, ammunition and a ski mask.

Kendrick faces up to 30 years in prison for cocaine distribution and will be sentenced as a career offender, because of two prior felony drug distribution convictions.

Kendrick faces up to 10 years in prison for the firearm charge.

He faces at least six years of supervised release following any term of imprisonment.

Strasser praised the work of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicholas D. Moses and Edward Rivera handled the prosecution.

Kendrick’s conviction follows an April sentencing of Reserve’s Reshad Frank for charges relating to narcotics trafficking.

Frank pleaded guilty last October to conspiring to distribute and to possess with the intent to distribute a quantity of cocaine hydrochloride.

Judge Jane Triche Milazzo sentenced Frank to 60 months in the Bureau of Prisons, as well as three years of supervised release following imprisonment.

Frank was indicted in 2016 as part of a group of suspects that included Kendrick, Travis Carter, Michael Sanders and Garrick Jones.

The Sheriff’s Office expanded the cases years back, reaching out to federal partners because more manpower and surveillance was needed.

At the time of the indictments, Sheriff Mike Tregre said the investigation “probably saved a life” and resulted in removing illegal guns off local streets.

According to the indictment, Kendrick, Jones, Carter, Sanders and Frank conspired to distribute crack.

Jones and Carter were also charged with retaliating against a witness for information provided to law enforcement.

The U.S. Department of Justice earlier said Jones, Frank and Carter previously pleaded guilty.