David Louis IV, a 23-year-old resident of New Orleans, was sentenced on April 7 to 33 months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm. United States District Judge Darrell J. Papillion ordered that Louis serve three years of supervised release following his imprisonment. The sentence will run consecutively to an undetermined sentence from a pending state prosecution for possessing contraband in jail and concurrently with sentences yet to be imposed for probation violations in two separate state court matters, U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle said.
The case is significant as it highlights ongoing efforts by law enforcement and the Department of Justice to address violent crime involving firearms among convicted felons.
According to court records, on April 15, 2025, detectives from the New Orleans Police Department observed Louis and an associate at Conrad Park on Hamilton Street. Louis removed marijuana from his backpack and began smoking while also displaying a black pistol taken from his waistband. Later, after approaching a silver Nissan Altima driven by his girlfriend and occupied by other adults and minors, Louis engaged in an argument during which he waved the pistol in the air.
When officers arrived at the scene, they saw Louis with the firearm before he entered the vehicle’s front passenger seat. Inside the car, he placed his Glock Model 23 .40 caliber pistol—loaded with twenty-two rounds—and backpack on the driver’s side floorboard. A subsequent search revealed additional ammunition and marijuana inside his backpack along with identification belonging to him.
Louis is prohibited under federal law from possessing firearms due to previous felony convictions.
This prosecution falls under Operation Take Back America—a nationwide initiative using resources from Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN)—which aims to combat illegal immigration-related crime as well as cartels and transnational criminal organizations.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and New Orleans Police Department investigated this case. Assistant United States Attorney Brittany Reed prosecuted it.
