Drug Dealers Punished After Feds Bust Fentanyl Trafficking Ring in South Louisiana

LAFAYETTE, La. (KPEL News) - Two men - one from Jennings and the other from Lake Charles - will each be spending a long time behind bars after U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents tracking a drug ring operating in South Louisiana were able to take a significant amount of fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine off the streets.

The feds' investigation, which began in 2018 and continued through 2020, also involved the Eunice Police Department, Lafayette Police Department, and Louisiana State Police. Law enforcement agents conducted surveillance and intercepted wire communications to and from a co-defendant’s telephone. Through their monitoring of calls and messages sent from that telephone - as well as surveillance and other investigative techniques - agents learned that both 57-year-old Robert Joseph Gant of Jennings and 38-year-old Randall Tyler of Lake Charles were communicating with other co-conspirators regarding the type and quantity of narcotics that would be delivered to Gant and Tyler after this co-conspirator returned to Louisiana from Mexico. Agents were able to track the shipment of these narcotics and obtained search warrants for Gant’s residence and other stash houses.

Once agents executed the search warrants, they were able to recover quite a haul:

• Approximately 1,017 grams of Fentanyl
• 260 grams of Heroin
• 320 grams of Methamphetamine

Robert Joseph Gant was sentenced to 210 months (17 years, 6 months) in prison,
followed by 5 years of supervised release. Gant pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin and fentanyl.

Randall Tyler was sentenced to 162 months (13 years, 6 months) in prison, followed
by 5 years of supervised release. Tyler pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Tyler and Gant were charged, along with 14 others, in this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Operation named “Inspired Wrath.”

This effort is part of an ongoing OCDETF operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.