A New Orleans man has been handed a sentence of 92 months in prison for illegal firearm possession, Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson announced. Caresses Perique, 38, received this punishment by U.S. District Judge Wendy B. Vitter, after pleading guilty to violating Title 18, United States Code, Section 922(g)(1) for possessing a weapon as a convicted felon, a move that will also see him under supervised release for a subsequent three-year period, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
During a routine surveillance on November 27, 2022, NOPD officers were at the 2600 block of Monroe Street for the annual Lady Buck Jumpers second line, where they spotted Perique with a concealed firearm. He immediately placed his hands inside his waistband when approached by officers, who managed to remove a loaded black Ruger P95 nine-millimeter handgun. Having one live round in the chamber and nine more in the magazine, it was discovered after the handgun was seized that Perique was not legally entitled to be in possession of any firearm due to multiple former felony convictions.
The sentence is a part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative, an all-encompassing law enforcement and community partnership aimed at curbing violent crime and gun violence. This approach, which was reinforced on May 26, 2021, pivots around creating trusting community relations, supporting violence prevention organizations, focusing on strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the outcomes of these efforts to foster safer neighborhoods, as stated by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Both the New Orleans Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the research behind Perique's case, which was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Greg Kennedy from the U.S. Attorney’s Office's Violent Crime Unit. The combined efforts are indicative of the cross-agency collaboration central to Project Safe Neighborhoods and its strategy for reducing violent crime throughout communities.
