Still using assumed name, man gets 20 years for possessing $600,000 in cocaine

Published 12:26 pm Saturday, August 18, 2018

GRETNA, La. (AP) — A man whose true name remains a mystery has been sentenced to 20 years in prison by a suburban New Orleans judge for possessing roughly $600,000 worth of cocaine.

The 35-year-old Gretna resident was convicted by a jury on July 10. A Friday news release from the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s office says he was sentenced this week by state District Judge Ellen Kovach, who also fined him $50,000.

Complicating the case: he has refused to provide his true identity. Prosecutors say evidence shows he is using the name of a man imprisoned in Puerto Rico on narcotics charges.

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The man in the Louisiana case was arrested in June 2017 after narcotics agents, acting on a tip, put him under surveillance and pulled him over on Interstate 10.