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NEW ORLEANS– U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that on March 23, 2021, Javanti COLER, age 25, a resident of Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, was sentenced to serve 57 months in the custody of the United States Bureau of Prisons.  When he is released from prison, he will be on supervised release for a period of three years.  Coler pled guilty back on December 8, 2020 to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

His co-defendant Deondre Gramma, age 26, also a resident of Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, who also pled guilty to bring a felon on possession of a firearm will be sentenced later this month.

Back on April 27, 2018, Coler and Gramma were passengers in a car that was pulled over for a traffic violation in Lafouche Parish.  As the officers were issuing a ticket to the driver, Gramma, who was the front seat passenger leaped from the car and tried to escape.  When he was caught by the police after a brief foot chase, they located a loaded firearm in his waistband.  This incident was captured on the officer’s body worn camera.  Other officers observed Coler, who was the backseat passenger, exit the back seat and attempt to discard a loaded semi-automatic handgun in the high grass on the side of the road.  A DNA swab of the gun was later compared to Coler’s DNA with a positive match.  A criminal history check of both Coler and Gramma revealed that they were both convicted felons.

The case was investigated by the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office, the Thibodeaux Police Department, The Lafourche Parish District Attorney’s Office, and the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (A.T.F.).  Assistant United States Attorney Maurice Landrieu is in charge of the prosecution.