On February 4, 2025, ABE JYLES, a 44-year-old resident of St. Bernard Parish, entered a plea of guilty to three federally charged offenses related to gun and drug violations. According to details released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, JYLES acknowledged possession of a firearm in the course of a drug trafficking crime, possession with the intent to distribute various illegal drugs, and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.

JYLES now faces a range of serious penalties for these convictions. The mandatory minimum sentence for the first count consists of no less than five years and could be extended up to life imprisonment, along with a $250,000 fine. Notably, any sentence for this count is required to run consecutively to any other count. This punitive decision notably aims to serve a move to more strictly enforce penalties in situations where firearms are used to further drug crimes. For the second count, JYLES may receive up to 20 years in prison and a fine that could reach $1,000,000. The third count could see him behind bars for up to 15 years, with an additional fine of $250,000 possible.

Furthermore, each count carries with it the obligation for JYLES to pay a mandatory special assessment fee of $100. The charges stem from an incident on February 29, 2024, when JYLES was pulled over by St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office personnel. Upon detecting the smell of marijuana, law enforcement conducted a vehicle search, resulting in the discovery of multiple illegal narcotics, firearms, and drug paraphernalia, as outlined in the official statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. JYLES was already under federal supervised release due to a 2008 drug trafficking conviction at the time of his most recent arrest.

This case falls under the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) initiative, which is a collaborative effort actively to reduce violent crime and gun violence, endeavoring to create safer communities. The Department launched a strengthened strategy for the PSN on May 26, 2021, focusing on establishing trust within communities, supporting organizations aimed at preventing violence, setting strategic enforcement priorities, and evaluating the outcomes. The prosecution of JYLES is executed by Assistant United States Attorney Maurice E. Landrieu, Jr. of the Narcotics Unit. Investigations were carried out collaboratively by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office, a coordinated effort that underscores the multi-agency approach embraced by PSN to efficiently target violent criminal activities.