LAFAYETTE, La. - Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced that a federal jury found a Baldwin man guilty Wednesday for his role in a cocaine distribution conspiracy operated in the St. Mary Parish area.
Barry Druilhet, 43, of Baldwin, La., was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and one count of use of a communication facility in causing or facilitating a drug trafficking crime. United States District Judge Elizabeth E. Foote presided over the three-day trial. The jury returned a guilty verdict after deliberating for approximately 45 minutes.
Evidence admitted at trial revealed that Druilhet was a member of a conspiracy to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine in the St. Mary Parish, Ascension Parish and Baton Rouge areas from January 2000 to June 2015. Omar Mascorro, 41, of Houston, Texas, was the source of the cocaine and provided it to Artey D. Foulcard, 38, of Franklin, La., who provided it to Druilhet and others to distribute. Agents recorded the defendants using their cellular phones to facilitate sale of the drugs.
Druilhet faces up to 20 years in prison for the conspiracy count and up to four years in prison for the communication count. He also faces three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine for both counts. Sentencing has been set for December 7, 2017. Mascorro pleaded guilty to the conspiracy count on June 21, 2017. The other defendants in the indictment pleaded guilty to the conspiracy count. They are: Michael McDaniel, 44, of Missouri City, Texas, who pleaded guilty on April 25, 2017; Cordell Johnson, 40, of Jeanerette, La., who pleaded guilty on June 26, 2017; Duanyell Williams, 42, of Franklin, La., who pleaded guilty on June 19, 2017; and Calvin Burrell, 50, of Franklin, who pleaded guilty on April 25, 2017. D’Arnold T. Deville, 49, of Bourg, La., was transferred to the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans on July 12, 2017 where he pleaded guilty to the conspiracy count and additional charges. Williams, Mascorro, McDaniel, Johnson and Burrell are scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 19, 2017. Foulcard was an unindicted coconspirator who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute a Schedule II controlled dangerous substance in a bill of information in January 2016 in the Western District of Louisiana. The case was transferred to the Middle District of Louisiana in Baton Rouge in February 2016, and he was sentenced on March 2, 2017 to 85 months in prison and five years of supervised release.
The defendants were arrested as part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Operation named “Hater Hurterz." The FBI and the Texas Department of Public Safety conducted the investigation. The OCDETF program 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.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert F. Moore and Kelly P. Uebinger are prosecuting the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
