Gonzales Man Sentenced for Interstate Travel in Aid of Racketeering and Drug Trafficking Facilitation

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – VIET NGUYEN (“NGUYEN”), age 30, a resident of Gonzales , Louisiana, was sentenced on May 1, 2024 by United States District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo to one (1) year and one (1) day of imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and a $500.00 mandatory special assessment fee after previously pleading guilty to  four counts of interstate travel in aid of racketeering, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1952(a)(3), and one count of use of a communication facility to facilitate a drug trafficking crime, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 843(b), announced U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans.

According to court documents, in July 2019, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office agents learned that Vinh Nguyen and others, participated in a drug and money trafficking network that spanned from California to Louisiana. Text messages confirmed that Vinh Nguyen worked with a supplier in California, who negotiated the cost and strains of marijuana with growers in San Francisco on his behalf.  Vinh Nguyen paid for the marijuana by having others, including NGUYEN, fly the cash to the supplier in San Francisco.  Another co-conspirator owned a shipping company that  shipped the marijuana from San Francisco to a warehouse in Kenner from which  another co-conspirator would  pick up the marijuana shipments and drop them off at various unknown locations in New Orleans and various other cities.   On April 15, May 7, June 26, and August 15, 2019, NGUYEN, at the direction of Vinh Nguyen, flew from New Orleans to California to deliver money for the purchase of marijuana

This prosecution is part of an extensive investigation by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).  OCDETF is a joint federal, state, and local cooperative approach to combat drug trafficking and is the nation’s primary tool for disrupting and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations, targeting national and regional level drug trafficking organizations and coordinating the necessary law enforcement entities and resources to disrupt or dismantle the targeted criminal organization and seize their assets. 

This case was investigated by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Office of Homeland Security Investigations.  The prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney André Jones of the Narcotics Unit.