Press Releases
TWO DEFENDANTS PLEAD GUILTY TO CHARGES INVOLVING DRUG CONSPIRACY
April 30, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DIEGO A. PEREZ, age (18), a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, and DAVID C. BATTENBERG, a/k/a “Bird” age (27), a resident of Metairie, Louisiana, each pled guilty today to conspiring with each other and other known individuals to distribute quantities of heroin and cocaine hydrochloride, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten. BATTENBERG additionally pled guilty to distribution of a quantity of heroin to a person under twenty-one years of age.
The charges followed an investigation that was initiated following the overdose death of a 16 year old female in January, 2008. During the investigation, FBI agents obtained hundreds of text messages from the cellular telephone of PEREZ which detailed PEREZ’s frequent acquisition of heroin, cocaine and other controlled substances from BATTENBERG for purposes of further distribution. Court records show that BATTENBERG and PEREZ’s relationship dated back at least to November, 2007 and continued through the arrest of PEREZ on February 15, 2008.
The guilty pleas today by PEREZ and BATTENBERG were the result of the execution of plea agreements in which both defendants and the government acknowledged (subject to ultimate approval by the federal sentencing judge) that each defendant would receive a 15-year federal prison sentence, based upon the following facts set forth in the plea agreement among others:
that each defendant’s conduct led directly to the overdose death of 16-year-old Madeleine Prevost;
that each defendant had distributed heroin to other individuals;
that each defendant provided varying degrees of cooperation with law enforcement in this matter.
Speaking to today’s guilty pleas United States Attorney Jim Letten stated:
“Today’s conviction of these two defendants whose conduct ultimately resulted in the loss of life of a 16-year-old child, were the product of swift, focused, and highly professional investigation and prosecution by the men and women of the FBI as well as our veteran prosecutors. These guilty pleas coupled with the stipulated 15-year federal sentence are the product of very careful consideration of all relevant factors to this case and the individuals and circumstances involved. It is our fervent hope that while we can not restore the loss of life of Madeleine Prevost to her family, we can at least try to the best of our ability to achieve justice and to adequately increase awareness to prevent such losses in the future.”
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorneys William J. Quinlan, Jr. and Maurice Landrieu, Supervisor of the U.S. Attorney’s Drug Unit.
(Download Factual Basis for Battenberg and Perez 
)
