Jones Sentencing
OPERATION GATORBAIT
DRUG CONSPIRACY RINGLEADER SENTENCED TO 327 MONTHS
BATON ROUGE, LA - United States Attorney Donald J. Cazayoux, Jr. announced that Willie “Gator” Jones, Jr, age 38, Baton Rouge, was sentenced today in federal court by Chief Judge Ralph E. Tyson. JONES was sentenced to 327 months imprisonment for Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine, 60 months imprisonment each on two counts for Unlawful Travel in Aid of Racketeering Enterprise, and 48 months imprisonment each on two counts of Unlawful Use of Communication Facilities, and ordered to forfeit $12,634. All counts were ordered to run concurrently for a total sentence of 327 months.
This is the last defendant to be sentenced in a drug ring that controlled one of the largest cocaine distribution organizations in this district. Judge Tyson described JONES as “the primary moving force in a drug conspiracy distributing significant amounts of cocaine in the community for a substantial period of time.”
These charges were a result of “Operation Gator Bait,” an extensive investigation conducted by the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) for the Middle District of Louisiana. The OCDETF is a multi-agency task force formed to investigate and prosecute criminal groups and individuals who organize, direct, finance, or are otherwise engaged in high level drug trafficking and related financial crimes. The OCDETF is comprised of agents from the Baton Rouge Resident Office of Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division, and the U.S. Marshal's Service. Other participating members in this OCDETF investigation included the Louisiana Alcohol and Tobacco Control Board, the Louisiana State Police, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office, the West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office, the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office, the Baton Rouge Police Department, and the Gonzales Police Department. This OCDETF investigation was coordinated by the United States Attorney's Office, with Deputy Criminal Chief Jennifer Kleinpeter serving as the OCDETF prosecutor.
United States Attorney Cazayoux remarked, “This case is an excellent example of the complicated multi-state drug trafficking investigations that the federal government is uniquely equipped to handle. The Baton Rouge DEA office and local law enforcement officials worked closely with the Houston DEA office to make certain that not only the local cocaine distributors, but also their sources in Houston, were identified and prosecuted in order to dismantle the entire drug trafficking organization. ”
This OCDETF operation successfully identified eleven local members of the drug trafficking organization and the five Houston residents who were supplying the cocaine to the Baton Rouge organization. The Houston residents were also prosecuted in this case.
