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NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – 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 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 pleaded guilty on October 19, 2021.  In his factual basis, TAPP admitted to regularly supplying heroin to another member of his drug trafficking conspiracy who would then sell the heroin in Hollygrove neighborhood of New Orleans

Pursuant to an indictment in this case, law enforcement agents attempted to arrest TAPP at his home in Slidell, Louisiana, on February 26, 2019.  Upon learning of the police presence, TAPP barricaded the front door, forcing agents to enter through the rear of the house.  After detaining TAPP, agents located an AK-47, scales, baggies, multiple pressing devices, blenders, and substances used to cut heroin.

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

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems 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 partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

U. S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New Orleans Gang Task Force.  The prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Myles Ranier and Kathryn McHugh.