Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
New Orleans Man Sentenced to Over 15 Years for Heroin Crime Committed in Orleans Parish Prison
NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that TREY MITCHELL, age 24, of New Orleans, was sentenced today for attempted distribution of heroin using a cell phone smuggled into the Orleans Parish Prison.
U.S. District Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt sentenced MITCHELL, a “career offender” under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, to 188 months in prison, 3 years of supervised release following his prison term, and a $100 special assessment. The judge ordered that the sentence run consecutive to the state sentences that MITCHELL is already serving for charges of home invasion, drug distribution, and firearms charges. MITCHELL is also awaiting sentencing in the “Wildside Gangsters” indictment in state court in New Orleans for charges of racketeering and conspiracy to distribute heroin.
According to court documents, MITCHELL had been involved in a conspiracy to distribute heroin in New Orleans since January 2011. In July 2012 and again in August 2012, MITCHELL was arrested for drug trafficking and firearms charges, only to be bonded out of jail to commit additional crimes. In November 2012, MITCHELL committed a home invasion and was again arrested and held in the Orleans Parish Prison, where he remained until his federal indictment in this case. His brother and co-defendant in this case, TERENCE TAYLOR, then obtained MITCHELL’s ‘dope’ phone and continued his heroin enterprise from outside jail. In September 2013, after pleading guilty to his state charges, MITCHELL used a smuggled cell phone to call TAYLOR from the parish prison to direct him to give heroin to another inmate who was being released from prison and needed to “get back on his feet.” These calls were intercepted on a court-authorized wiretap of TAYLOR’s cell phones. In October 2015, Judge Engelhardt sentenced TAYLOR to a prison term of 324 months (27 years) for conspiracy to distribute heroin and distribution of heroin resulting in an overdose death.
U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the DEA New Orleans Police Department High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area group, the FBI, and the ATF, with the assistance of the St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office, the St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office, and the Louisiana State Police in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Michael B. Redmann is in charge of the prosecution.
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