New Orleans Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Fentanyl and Firearm Charges
Joshua Benson, 36, of New Orleans, Louisiana, has pleaded guilty in federal court. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana announced the plea on November 9, with U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle making the announcement.
Benson, also known as “Big Mal,” pleaded guilty on November 3, 2026, before U.S. District Judge Wendy B. Vitter to five counts of a six-count indictment: possession with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and three counts of distributing fentanyl.
According to court documents, between August and October 2025 Benson sold nearly 100 grams of fentanyl to a confidential informant working with the Drug Enforcement Administration in three controlled purchases near his New Orleans residence. On October 30, 2025, agents executing federal search warrants at his apartment and a second residence found more than one kilogram of fentanyl in the apartment, much of it hidden behind the headboard of his bed, along with a digital scale, a vacuum sealer and $5,080 in cash. In a storage drawer built into his bed, agents found a loaded Heckler & Koch nine-millimeter pistol fitted with an extended magazine. At the second residence, agents seized a safe holding $48,000 in cash. Benson is prohibited from possessing firearms because of a prior felony conviction for attempted armed robbery with a firearm.
On the fentanyl possession count alone, Benson faces a mandatory minimum of ten years up to life imprisonment and a fine of up to $10,000,000. Sentencing is set for February 2, 2027, before Judge Wendy B. Vitter. The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the New Orleans Police Department.
(Source: U.S. Department of Justice)
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国司法部大楼入口（G. Edward Johnson 摄，CC BY 4.0，Wikimedia Commons）。 / Photo: Entrance of the U.S. Department of Justice headquarters (photo by G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons).
