New Orleans Man Sentenced for Federal Gun Control and Federal Controlled Substances Acts Violations

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - QUINDELLE ADDISON ("ADDISON"), age 48, a resident of New Orleans, was sentenced on March 26, 2025, by United States District Judge Ivan L. R. Lemelle, for violations of the Federal Gun Control Act and the Federal Controlled Substances Act, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson.

According to court records, on August 29, 2023, ADDISON, and four others, conspired to distribute, methamphetamine to an undercover Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) agent and another individual, at a Westbank, New Orleans apartment. The plan came to fruition when ADDISON sold the undercover ATF agent approximately seven grams of pure methamphetamine.

After this methamphetamine sale was completed, a co-defendant arranged for the undercover ATF agent and the other individual to return to the apartment the following day to purchase more drugs. When the undercover ATF agent and the other individual arrived at the apartment the next day, they were robbed at gunpoint. Other agents monitoring the deal soon responded. The robbers heard the law enforcement response, stopped the robbery, and everyone in the apartment tried to flee. The undercover ATF agent and the other individual went onto the third-floor apartment balcony and began climbing down to escape. During their climb, the agent fell and sustained severe injuries.

As a result of this criminal conduct, ADDISON and five co-defendants were indicted on eleven-counts related to the drug trafficking and armed robbery, and subsequently pled guilty. ADDISON pled guilty to the methamphetamine conspiracy, the distribution of methamphetamine, being a felon in possession of a firearm, possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, and maintaining a drug involved premises. He was the last defendant to be sentenced.

Judge Lemelle sentenced ADDISON to 118 months imprisonment, a 4-year term of supervised release and a mandatory special assessment fee of $500.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun track violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

The investigation giving rise to the case was conducted primarily by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, with assistance from the Louisiana State Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New Orleans Police Department and Crimestoppers GNO. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys David Haller, Senior Litigation Counsel and PSN Coordinator, and Nolan Paige, Chief of the Narcotics Unit.