Louisiana is a high traffic tourist area, especially during Mardi Gras and New Years. Not all visits to the area go smoothly, however. This appears evident in the case of one man who wound up needing a criminal defense after managers of a particular business asked him to vacate the premises, but he supposedly refused and wound up being searched and charged with drug crimes.
Police say they got a call some time after midnight reporting a person who was acting as though he was intoxicated in a Bourbon Street business establishment. The caller also stated that the man was asked to leave the building but would not do so. Officers were dispatched to the scene to checks things out.
At approximately 2:40 a.m., after making contact with the person in question, they arrested him for trespassing. At some point, officers searched the man’s person and say they discovered a large amount of cash (which many people might carry when visiting Bourbon Street) two cell phones (also not all that uncommon) and a baggie of more than a dozen pills. Reportedly, preliminary tests on the pills indicated that they were amphetamines.
The man was arrested for drug possession with intent to distribute. This led police to search his hotel room, where they say they seized cookies laced with marijuana, heroin, amphetamines and psychedelic mushrooms. Three additional people in the hotel room were arrested on drug possession charges. All of the individuals who were arrested are guaranteed the right to criminal defense assistance. In fact, any person charged with a crime in Louisiana is able to request legal representation as soon as they are detained.
Source: nola.com, “4 arrested in Bourbon Street drug bust, New Orleans police say”, Richard A. Webster, Jan. 1, 2018
