Two Sentenced in Heroin Conspiracy

U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that PAUL LEE, age 36, and GARRY GENTRY, age 31, both of New Orleans, were sentenced today for conspiring to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin.

U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier sentenced LEE to a term of imprisonment of 168 months and GENTRY to a term of 140 months.  Each defendant was also sentenced to a 5-year term of supervised release following imprisonment and a special assessment of one hundred dollars.

According to court documents, a series of court-authorized wiretaps on the cell phones of New Orleans area heroin dealers led Drug Enforcement Administration agents to identify co-defendant Fredrick Douglas Brooks III as a Houston-based heroin trafficker who was distributing kilogram quantities of heroin in the New Orleans area through drug and bulk cash couriers.  LEE and GENTRY were two of the drug dealers who purchased wholesale quantities of heroin from Brooks’s network for distribution in New Orleans.

U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the Drug Enforcement Administration in investigating this matter.  Assistant United States Attorney Michael B. Redmann was in charge of the prosecution.