BATON ROUGE, La. (KLFY) – The leader of a cocaine trafficking ring in Louisiana has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison.
Travis R. James, 38, of Baton Rouge was sentenced on Nov. 10 to 30 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release, according to a press release from the Department of Justice U.S. Attorney’s Office Middle District of Louisiana.
The sentence follows his convictions of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, crack cocaine, and heroin, conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, and possession of firearms by a convicted felon, the press release said.
The court found that James was a leader and organizer of a drug trafficking group of 13 people. The press release said that the group was generating large amounts of drugs and drug trafficking proceeds.
James’ significant criminal history and history of violence were also factors in the sentence, according to the press release.
The court also ordered that the guns be forfeited and ordered James to pay $139,632, which is equal to the combined value of the proceeds and property used to facilitate drug trafficking conspiracy.
In addition, Chief Judge Shelly D. Dick imposed sentences to the following co-conspirators:
- Troy James (115 months)
- Joshua Mansion (120 months)
- Kim Murphy (168 months)
- Yascia LaFrance (90 months)
- Cornelius Carter (120 months)
- Belinda Carter (19 months)
According to the press release, James led the group to obtain cocaine from Houston, Tx. and transport the cocaine to stash houses in Baton Rouge and Prairieville.
Some of those trips consisted of five or more kilograms of cocaine, the press release said.
During the investigation, authorities seized over $500,000 in drug trafficking proceeds from James, as well as eight guns, heroin and cocaine testing kits, and two kilo presses.
The press release also said that James was making plans to traffic heroin.
James was indicted as part of Operation Hidden Fee, an extensive federal, state, and local investigation led by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, the press release said.
The Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Internal Revenue Service, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office, the Baton Rouge City Police Department, and the Louisiana State Police all contributed to this investigation.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert Piedrahita and Lyman E. Thornton III.
