NEW ORLEANS - U.S. Attorney Peter G. Strasser announced that MICHAEL LEVERIDGE, age 45, of Dallas, Texas, was sentenced yesterday after previously pleading guilty to participating in a methamphetamine distribution conspiracy throughout the New Orleans area. Specifically, LEVERIDGE pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture of methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. '' 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(A) and 846.
U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo sentenced LEVERIDGE to 84 months’ incarceration, followed by five years of supervised release.
According to court documents, in 2014, during the New Orleans Decadence Festival, LEVERIDGE traveled to New Orleans with approximately 21 ounces (over one-half kilogram) of a mixture containing methamphetamine. LEVERIDGE intended to resell the methamphetamine in the New Orleans area. Agents recovered the 21 ounces of methamphetamine, along with other contraband, during a search pursuant to a warrant of LEVERIDGE’s room at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel in the French Quarter over Decadence Festival weekend.
U.S. Attorney Strasser praised the work of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Gulf Coast High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Program. The DEA’s HIDTA Group #11, operating out of the New Orleans Field Division, includes members of the Louisiana State Police, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, and other local agencies. Assistant United States Attorney Brandon S. Long is in charge of the prosecution.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
