Skip to main content
Press Release

Chalmette Resident Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Distribute Heroin and Cocaine

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Louisiana

NEW ORLEANS, LA – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced today that KEVIN GRAY, age 49, a resident of Chalmette, Louisiana, pled guilty to conspiring to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine and 100 grams or more of heroin, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(B), and 846. GRAY is facing a sentence of up to forty (40) years of imprisonment, a fine of up to $5,000,000, at least four years of supervised release upon his release from prison, and a $100 mandatory special assessment fee. 

According to court records, GRAY and four others, Joseph Brown, Lionel Cooley, Kendrick Demourelle, and Blake Monroe, conspired to sell illegal narcotics in New Orleans. Law enforcement officers seized more than 400 grams of heroin, more than 120 grams of cocaine, and a pill press inside GRAY’s home during a court authorized search.

U.S. District Judge Wendy Vitter will sentence GRAY on February 1, 2022 at 1:30pm. GRAY, Brown, Cooley, Demourelle, and Monroe were charged in February 2020 with conspiring to distribute cocaine, crack, and heroin in the New Orleans area.

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.

U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, Hammond Police Department, New Orleans Police Department, and Slidell Police Department in investigating this matter.  Assistant United States Attorney David Howard Sinkman is in charge of the prosecution. 

Updated October 28, 2021

Topic
Drug Trafficking