News from DEA, Domestic Field Divisions, New Orleans News Releases, 05/18/10

News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 18, 2010
Contact: Special Agent Roberto Bryan
Number: (504) 840-1360

New Orleans Man Pleads Guilty To Federal Drug Charges

MAY 18 -- NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - MICHAEL PINKNEY, age 30, a resident of New Orleans, pleaded guilty May 12, 2010 in federal court before U. S. District Judge Stanwood Duval to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin and five hundred grams or more of cocaine hydrochloride, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten.

According to the court documents, PINKNEY admitted to his role in the conspiracy to distribute at least three kilograms but not more than ten kilograms of heroin in the B. W. Cooper Housing Development. PINKNEY and fourteen other individuals were charged in a superseding indictment on January 29, 2010 with federal drug and firearms violations. Co-defendant William Stevenson pled guilty on April 28, 2010 to conspiracy and one count of possessing firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking and is scheduled to be sentenced on September 15, 2010. The remaining defendants are scheduled for trial on June 14, 2010 before Judge Stanwood Duval.

PINKNEY faces a mandatory minimum of ten (10) years and possible maximum of life in prison and at least five (5) years supervised release. Sentencing has been scheduled for August 4, 2010 before the U. S. District Judge Duval.

The case was investigated by DEA in collaboration with the Gulf Coast High Intensity Drug Trafficking Task Force (HIDTA) and the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).

The HIDTA Task Force is led by DEA and includes a team of dedicated investigators from the New Orleans Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. OCDETF is an important program which targets the most significant drug trafficking organizations that impact drug trafficking within the United States. Also assisting in the enforcement operations were the Louisiana State Police, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, Kenner Police Department, and St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office.