Louisiana Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Drug Trafficking and Firearms Charges

New Orleans, Louisiana / State – On Wednesday, July 20, 2022, United States District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo sentenced Josh Tapp, age 35, a resident of New Orleans, to 130 months (10 years, 10 months) in the Bureau of Prisons for conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute a quantity of heroin, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841 and 846, and possessing an AK-47 in furtherance of drug trafficking, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(c). Tapp will be on supervised release for three years following his release from prison and must pay a $200 mandatory special assessment fee.

Tapp entered a guilty plea on October 19, 2021. Tapp admitted in his factual basis to regularly supplying heroin to another member of his drug trafficking conspiracy, who would then sell the heroin in New Orleans’ Hollygrove neighborhood.

On February 26, 2019, law enforcement agents attempted to arrest Tapp at his home in Slidell, Louisiana, according to an indictment in this case. Tapp barricaded the front door after learning of the police presence, forcing agents to enter through the back of the house. Agents discovered an AK-47, scales, baggies, multiple pressing devices, blenders, and substances used to cut heroin after arresting Tapp.

At the time of his arrest, in this case, Tapp was already on federal supervised release for a previous drug conviction.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which is the focal point of the Department of Justice’s efforts to reduce violent crime. PSN is an evidence-based program that has been shown to reduce violent crime. PSN brings together a diverse range of stakeholders to identify the most pressing violent crime issues in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and collaborates with community-based prevention and reentry programs to achieve long-term crime reductions.

The work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New Orleans Gang Task Force was lauded by US Attorney Evans. Assistant United States Attorneys Myles Ranier and Kathryn McHugh are in charge of the prosecution.