U.S. Attorney Brandon Brown announces resignation

United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown has announced his resignation, effective January 20, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. from the Department of Justice.

Brown was nominated by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. to the position of United States Attorney on November 15, 2021, confirmed by the United States Senate on December 7, 2021, and sworn in on December 10, 2021.

During his tenure as United States Attorney, Brown served as the chief law enforcement officer in the Western District of Louisiana, which includes 42 of the state’s 64 parishes and geographically encompasses two-thirds of the state of Louisiana.

As U.S. Attorney, Brown oversaw the investigation and litigation of all federal criminal and civil cases brought on behalf of the United States in the Western District of Louisiana.

“It has been the honor of a lifetime and the pinnacle of my career to serve the American people and the citizens of the Western District of Louisiana for 12 years, with the last 3 being the U.S. Attorney. I thank President Biden for nominating me, Senators Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy for their constant and unwavering support and Attorney General Merrick Garland for his vision and guidance during my tenure,” said U.S. Attorney Brown. “Working with the men and women in this office over the years as well as our federal, state, and local partners has been the privilege of a lifetime. They are my family and will be sorely missed. U.S. Department of Justice employees are American heroes.”

During his tenure, U.S. Attorney Brown led an office of approximately 90 prosecutors, civil litigators, and administrative and support personnel in executing the mission of the U.S. Department of Justice by representing the United States in federal court. In his role, he oversaw investigations and prosecutions mainly involving violent crimes, firearm offenses, child exploitation, health care fraud, drug trafficking, gang activities, civil rights violations, public corruption, and white-collar crime offenses.

Within months of being confirmed, Brown was chosen by Attorney General Merrick Garland to serve on his Attorney General Advisory Committee (AGAC) as the U.S. Fifth Circuit representative. The AGAC is comprised of a select group of U.S. Attorneys that assists the Attorney General in creating department wide policy for all 94 districts and other DOJ components. It was created to serve as the voice of the U.S. Attorneys and to advise the Attorney General on policy, management and operational issues impacting the offices of the U.S. Attorneys. In addition, he also served on the AGAC’s white collar crime, violent crime, and civil rights subcommittees. In 2023, Brown was appointed to the Resource Allocation Working Group (RAWG), comprised of another select group of U.S. Attorneys and DOJ leaders, chosen to advise the Executive Office for United States Attorneys and the Deputy Attorney General on the allocation of personnel resources in all United States Attorneys’ Offices.

Under Brown’s leadership, the U.S. Attorney’s Office successfully prosecuted hundreds of firearms cases in an effort to reduce violent crime in our district. Other priority cases included the trafficking of drugs to include fentanyl, methamphetamine, and heroin, as well as public corruption, child pornography, and human trafficking. As a result of these efforts, the district saw significant declines in the violent crime rates in the Shreveport and Monroe divisions in 2023 and 2024. These results were a by-product of Brown developing close and strong working relationships with other federal, state, and local law enforcement partners and state district attorneys’ offices. For example, Brown entered into agreements with several state district attorneys that allowed state prosecutors to become Special Assistant United States Attorneys and prosecute violent crime in federal court. The District has also been a DOJ leader in the implementation of E-Litigation strategies resulting in enhanced efficiency of investigations and litigation. A sampling of notable cases and outreach efforts during U.S. Attorney Brown’s tenure are as follows:

Civil Cases/Asset Recovery

• The district court ordered William Ross Hickman to pay restitution of over $2.6 million pursuant to a conviction of Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud for which he received 52 months in prison.  The Financial Litigation Unit (FLU) secured an order of foreclosure and sale of motor vehicles, jewelry and immovable property belonging to Hickman resulting in approximately $900,000 being applied to Hickman’s restitution balance;
• A Clean Air Act enforcement case was brought in United States v. Power Performance Enterprises, et. al for manufacturing and selling devices that thwart the emission controls installed on diesel trucks.  This office filed a garnishment against the defendants resulting in the seizure of $1,000,000 in satisfaction of civil penalties;
• Entered into a settlement where Lafayette Physical Rehabilitation Hospital and its parent company Acadiana Management Group, paid $1.2 million, and Dr. Carolyn Smith agreed to pay $575,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by submitting claims to Medicare for unnecessarily inpatient rehabilitation services;
• The District’s Financial Litigation Unit secured more than $49 million in collections for victims of crimes and to satisfy debts owed to the United States.  The unit also forfeited $200,000 in property seized from criminal defendants and arising out of civil forfeiture matters.

Civil Rights/Public Integrity Accomplishments

• Joined the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Middle and Eastern Districts of Louisiana in opening an investigation into the Louisiana State Police to assess whether the department has a pattern and practice of engaging in racially discriminatory policing. The investigation is pending.  Also joined these offices in filing a lawsuit against the state of Louisiana and the Louisiana Department of Corrections (LDOC) for violating the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) alleging that the state and LDOC has a pattern and practice of confining incarcerated persons for weeks and sometimes months after they have completed their prison sentences and are legally entitled to be released. This litigation is pending;
• Jared Desadier, a former Monroe Police Department officer, was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison on excessive force charges when the victim, who posed no threat to] officers, surrendered after leading officers on a brief foot chase;
• Dylan Hudson, a former Shreveport Police Department officer, was sentenced to 21 months in prison after beating and tasing a non-violent loitering victim;
• Former Shreveport Police Department officers Jeffrey Peters and James Cisco pled guilty to wire fraud conspiracy charges for defrauding the Community-Based Crime Reduction Program, a grant administered by the DOJ that pays officers for overtime worked;
• Former Desoto Parish Sheriff Deputies Javarrea Pouncy and Demarkes Grant were sentenced to 37 months and 10 months in prison respectively for using excessive force against a detainee at the Desoto Parish jail;
• Harold “BJ” Sanford, a former Bossier City Police sergeant, was sentenced to 1 year and a day in federal prison for defrauding the Bossier City Police Union and obtaining controlled substances by fraud;
• Chance Seneca was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison for kidnapping and attempting to murder a gay man as part of a months-long hate crimes scheme to kidnap and murder gay men.

Child Exploitation

• An investigation revealed William Malone sexually abused and threatened a child over several years, oftentimes from a vessel off the coast of Louisiana, near Abbeville, Louisiana. Malone was sentenced to a total of 160 years on all counts and ordered to pay restitution to the victim in the amount of $206,580.80;
• Jacob De La Paz, a high school teacher and coach was sentenced to 84 months in federal prison for attempted receipt of child pornography after requesting a pornographic video over social media from a student;
• Gary Harper was sentenced to 300 months in prison for production of child pornography involving children between 13 and 16 years old in the Monroe area.  The investigation revealed he victimized over 25 minor females;
• Deray Richard was sentenced to 228 months in prison in connection with a human trafficking case in which he groomed and later physically and sexually assaulted multiple victims. The illicit activity took place in Kentucky, north Texas, and Bossier City, LA.

Drug Diversion/Drug Trafficking Convictions

• Brian Broussard and Sheila Adams were sentenced to 162 and 24 months respectively for drug conspiracy and firearm charges arising out of the Lafayette area;
• Larry Daniels, a medical doctor authorized to treat patients with opioid addictions, was sentenced to 36 months in prison and a $20,000 fine for prescribing controlled substances, some which were opioids, outside the bonds of medical practices;
• Gabriel Hawthorne was sentenced to 120 months in prison for conspiring with Frederick Thornton (210 months) and Andrea Mitchell (18 months) for distributing heroin and fentanyl in the Lafayette area. Customers were led to believe they were purchasing heroin, when in fact it the heroin was laced with fentanyl;
• Brian Jesus Garcia Pena and 3 additional defendants were sentenced to a total of 560 months after using smuggled contraband cellular telephones to communicate with Mexican cartel members to coordinate methamphetamine trafficking into USP Pollock;
• Anthony Pouncy and 9 additional defendants were sentenced to a combined 708 months on cocaine trafficking, money laundering charges and Payroll Protection Program (PPP) fraud;
• James Weeks and 6 additional defendants were sentenced to a combined 1,308 months for a methamphetamine and firearm charges involving drug smuggling with the Mexican cartel at USP Pollock, the Natchitoches area, Alexandria area as well as portions of Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Fraud/White Collar

• Convicted 24 members or affiliates of Shreveport street gang Step or Die (SOD) of wire fraud charges after they obtained over $600,000 in SBA PPP loans and attempted to obtain another $2.2 million for no legitimate business purposes.  The defendants used the money, in part, to purchase firearms and conduct other illicit activities. Sentences ranged anywhere from supervised probation to 71 months in prison;
• Joseph Boswell was sentenced to 60 months in prison and $646,259.70 in restitution for bankruptcy fraud and tax evasion after concocting schemes to avoid paying taxes and creditors from whom he borrowed;
• In US v. David D. DeBerardinis, Shreveport businessman DeBerardinis pleaded guilty to wire fraud after defrauding numerous victims out of millions of dollars. DeBerardinis represented himself and his business entities to be part of a major energy company in the petroleum industry involved in a complex fuel trading business, soliciting private funds in exchange for guaranteed return of principal and interest. However, at the time the funding was obtained, he was not making fuel trades nor was he part of the energy company. In 2022, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to pay $51,462,909.66 in restitution to his victims;
• Michael Tolliver was sentenced to 120 months in prison and over $1.1 million in restitution in a PPP and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) scheme. The PPP and EIDL programs were established to assist employers severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic;
• Krystal Glover-Wing was sentenced to 72 months and ordered to pay $3.6 million in restitution after being convicted for conspiracy to commit health care fraud;
• Charged 21 defendants with conspiracy to commit bank fraud in an elder fraud investigation where employees of Teleperformance conspired with others to target elderly USAA bank customers to obtain account information for fraudulent purposes. The investigation is ongoing.

Violent Crime/Terrorism

• In a domestic terrorism investigation, Daniel Aikens was sentenced to 16 years in prison for illegal explosive related charges. In September 2019, Aikens caused an explosion at Cloyd’s Beauty School in Monroe, a Texaco gas station in Alexandria in December 2019 and a Payday Today in Alexandria in January 2020;
• Montrelle Jones was sentenced to 78 months in prison after a Monroe Police Officer foiled an attempt by Jones, who had a pending domestic protective order, to brandish a firearm at a Neville High School basketball game during a fight that took place outside the gym;
• Jeremiah Deare and Sarah Fogle were sentenced to 97 and 60 months respectively for conspiring to deal firearms without a license, making false statements in records required to be kept by a licensed firearms dealer and failing to run required background checks in connection with the unlicensed firearm business.  These defendants operated Dave’s Gun Shop of Lafayette.  During the investigation, 619 firearms were forfeited;
• Joseph Harrison was sentenced to 216 months, Cody Williams was sentenced to 300 months and Drapper Anthony, Jr. was sentenced to 240 months in prison in a case involving a conspiracy to commit kidnapping devised by members and associates of the All The Money (ATM) Acadiana area street gang.  The gang lured an individual from Los Angeles to Lafayette under the guise of executing a multistate narcotics transaction. Once present in Lafayette, the victim was kidnapped and ransom demands were made including $300,000, 100 pounds of marijuana and high-end jewelry;
• Lake Charles Police responded to the home of Jordan Soileau after receiving a report that he had beaten a woman with whom he lived with.  Soileau, a convicted felon, had numerous firearms in the home. One of the firearms was as a semi-automatic rifle with a silencer and auto-sear conversion device, allowing it to illegally operate as a machine gun.  Soileau was sentenced to 86 months in prison.

Partnerships with Federal, State & Local Law Enforcement/Community Outreach

• Through the Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee, this office has trained approximately 1,000 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers across the state of Louisiana annually since U.S. Attorney Brown was confirmed. Also, approximately 50 U.S. Attorney awards have also been granted to federal, state and local law enforcement for exemplary performance in investigations;
• U.S. Attorney Brown, the district’s law enforcement coordinator and numerous Assistant United States Attorneys have participated on law enforcement panels around the country sharing case studies and best practices regarding both federal civil and criminal investigations;
• Convened a Shreveport based community advisory group of 15 members called “Focusing on the Future” that advised U.S. Attorney Brown, on a monthly basis, how the community can assist in civil rights issues and violent crime prevention strategies;
• The District participated in the Shreveport area National Night Out activities with local law enforcement, Paint Your Heart Out and Love the Boot all in conjunction with the City of Shreveport;
• Partnered with the DOJ’s Criminal Rights Division to participate in the department’s Southern Civil Rights Tour in March 2023. Meetings were held with community advocates in Tallulah, LA, students and administration at Grambling State University, Bossier and Caddo Parish students and Shreveport area community advocates;
• Partnered with the DOJ’s Community Relations Service, FBI, Louisiana State University at Shreveport, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Shreveport Police Department, People Acting for Change and Equality (PACE), Louisiana Trans Advocates, Acadiana Queer Collective and Community Advocate to host forums in Lafayette and Shreveport in furtherance of the DOJ’s United Against Hate platform which is an effort to discuss strategies and resources to help prevent LGBTQIA+ hate crimes.

Before becoming United States Attorney in 2021, Brown served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana beginning in November 2012, where he prosecuted a wide range of criminal offenses. In March 2017, U.S. Attorney Brown was appointed as the Project Safe Neighborhoods Coordinator for the district, charged with coordinating two task forces comprised of federal and state law enforcement agencies with the goal of investigating and prosecuting firearm and high-end violent crime organizations in the WDLA. He left the office in March 2018 to accept a position in private practice and then rejoined the Shreveport Criminal Division in October 2018 as the Shreveport Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) attorney and the district’s Violent Crime Coordinator.
Brown is from Richwood, Louisiana, and a graduate of Ouachita Parish High School in Monroe, LA. He went on to obtain both a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems in 2002, and a Master of Business Administration in 2004 from Louisiana Tech University. Brown received his law degree from Southern University Law Center in 2007 and began his legal career as an Assistant District Attorney at the Fourth Judicial District Attorney's Office in Monroe, Louisiana.

Pursuant to the Vacancies Reform Act, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook, a 25 year veteran of the office, will succeed Mr. Brown as the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana until a successor is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.