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Acting United States Attorney Ellison C. Travis announced that U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles sentenced Brian Spears, age 43, of Baker, Louisiana, to 112 months in federal prison following his convictions for possession with the intent to distribute heroin, methamphetamine, Xanax and Tramadol and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.  The Court further sentenced Jones to serve 3 years of supervised release following his term of imprisonment and ordered that the firearms involved be forfeited.

According to admissions as part of his guilty plea, on November 4, 2019, deputies with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office sought and obtained a search warrant for Spears’ residence based on learning Spears was selling illegal drugs from his residence.  On November 12, 2019, EBRSO deputies observed Spears leave his residence and drive to a nearby house a few blocks away.  Deputies followed Spears and arrested him as he exited from his vehicle.  A loaded AK-47 was found on the driver’s floorboard of Spears’ vehicle.

EBRSO deputies then executed the search warrant of Spears’ residence, where they found 90.8 grams of heroin, 2.6 grams of methamphetamine, 16 dose units of Xanax, and 2 dose units of Tramadol, a digital scale, and a loaded Glock 21, 9mm handgun.  EBRSO also found three children under the age of 10 in the home alone when they arrived.  Spears’ residence is less than 900 yards from an East Baton Rouge Parish school.  Both the Ak-47 and the Glock 21 were loaded with extended round magazines.

Acting U.S. Attorney Travis stated, “This conviction and sentence of a repeat offender reaffirms our commitment to fight violence by investigating, arresting, and prosecuting convicted criminals who decide to illegally possess firearms and sell drugs.  Great credit goes to our partnership with local authorities for this result.  I want to thank our prosecutor, the ATF, and the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office for their work on this case.”

“One of ATF’s primary missions is to investigate illegal possession of firearms by violent offenders,” said ATF New Orleans Field Division Special Agent in Charge Kurt Thielhorn.  “The sentence imposed today is an example of ATF’s partnership with the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office to identify and investigate individuals that plague our communities with gun violence and drugs.”

This matter was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office.   It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jessica M.P. Thornhill.