NEW ORLEANS, LA – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that JIMMELLE PINES, age 41, a resident of Hammond, Louisiana, pled guilty on January 13, 2022 to Count 1 of the Indictment, charging him with possessing with intent to distribute one (1) kilogram or more of a mixture or substance containing heroin, pursuant to Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(A). The defendant faces a minimum sentence of ten (10) years in prison up to a maximum sentence of up to life imprisonment, up to a $10,000,000.00 fine, a period of supervised release of no less than five (5) years, and a $100 mandatory special assessment fee.

According to court records, PINES, when arrested on November 5, 2020 at his grandmother’s property in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, possessed approximately 1.575 kilograms of heroin that he intended to sell.  In October 2020, officers working with the Ponchatoula Police Department (“PPD”) and federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”), the investigative branch of the United States Department of Homeland Security, received credible information that PINES stored large quantities of heroin in immobile cars parked on his grandmother’s property in Ponchatoula.

U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon will sentence PINES on March 24, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Homeland Security Investigations, Hammond Police Department, Ponchatoula Police Department, and Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney David Howard Sinkman is in charge of the prosecution.