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NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – LOUIS BELLS, JR., age 21, a resident of Hammond, Louisiana, pled guilty on August 2, 2022, before U.S. District Judge Jay C. Zainey to being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2), announced U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans.

According to court documents, BELLS was arrested by law enforcement officers on November 11, 2021, after they witnessed him point a nine-millimeter pistol at a victim and then place the gun against the victim’s head. When BELLS was arrested, the gun had a round in the chamber, was off safe and in the firing position, with the firing hammer locked back.

BELLS was previously convicted of felonies for aggravated assault with a firearm and possession of heroin. BELLS faces up to ten years imprisonment, a fine of up to $250,000, up to three years supervised release, and $100 mandatory special assessment fee.

This case is being prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime.  Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.  As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

This case was investigated by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, Hammond Police Department, Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, 21^st Judicial District Attorney’s Office, St. Tammany Parish District Attorney’s Office, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, and the U.S. Marshals Service. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney J. Benjamin Myers.