Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA –TIERON PRICE (“PRICE”), age 22, was sentenced on May 20, 2025 U.S. District Judge Darrel J. Papillion to 106 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release, and a $400 mandatory special assessment fee, after previously pleading guilty to two counts of possessing a machinegun, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(o) and 924(a)(2); possession with intent to distribute tapentadol, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(C); and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(i).
According to court documents, on May 22, 2023, PRICE was driving a stolen vehicle in New Orleans. When Louisiana State Police troopers attempted to pull him over, PRICE led troopers on a seven-minute car chase, during which PRICE ran several red lights, disregarded stop signs, and drove the wrong way on one-way streets at high speeds. The chase ended when PRICE struck a vehicle stopped at a red light. PRICE and two other occupants fled but were caught. Inside a backpack carried by one of the other occupants, there was a Glock Model 17, nine-millimeter caliber pistol, equipped with a Glock auto-sear, making the firearm a fully-automatic machinegun. The machinegun had a bullet in the chamber and was loaded with an extended magazine containing 23 rounds of ammunition. PRICE’s DNA was on the firearm and he later admitted ownership.
PRICE was arrested after the car chase but subsequently released on bond. On January 19, 2024, New Orleans Police Department detectives executed a search warrant at PRICE’s residence in connection with an auto theft investigation. During the search, officers found a Glock Model 19, nine-millimeter caliber pistol, a black Glock auto-sear hidden in a baby bassinet, and a drum magazine loaded with 49 rounds. PRICE had been observed on a social media app the day before the search with the same gun equipped with the auto-sear, and the drum magazine attached. During the search officers also found over $6,000 in cash and 95 tapentadol pills that PRICE intended to distribute.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
The case was investigated by Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Louisiana State Police, and the New Orleans Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David Berman of the Violent Crime Unit.