Over $36,000 in cash confiscated alongside 78 pounds of marijuana and 19 guns
The St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office seized 78 pounds of marijuana, a cache of firearms and more than $36,000 from a St. Rose residence on Super Bowl Sunday.
The home’s owner, 36-year-old Lance Cowans, was arrested along with a Houston-based accomplice, Juan Alberto Salinas, 20.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, the DEA tipped deputies that Salinas would be transporting drugs to the St. Rose home. Sheriff’s deputies stopped Salinas on Airline Highway for allegedly running a stop sign as he left the residence and found marijuana in his vehicle, authorities said.
After the arrest, a warrant was issued for Cowans’ residence at 836 Fox Lane in St. Rose, where deputies say they found marijuana as well as 17 long rifles, two handguns, digital scales, small amounts of cocaine and miscellaneous controlled substances.
“[Cowans] has been there for quite a few years and actually has a very minimal criminal record,” Champagne said. “He’s one of those people that apparently decided to really go big in just recent years and was kinda flying below radar very carefully…as the larger ones tend to do.”
The marijuana was formed into specially shaped blocks that the Sheriff’s Office believes were stored inside of a spare tire that was found cut open in Cowans’ home. Champagne said he suspects that Cowans had been dealing drugs for a few years.
“This wasn’t the first rodeo for this individual—this wasn’t [Cowans’] first day in the drug business,” Champagne said. “We’re very pleased that our relationship with the DEA is paying off. This is a large amount of marijuana to be taken off the streets.”
Champagne suggested that the amount of marijuana meant it was likely destined for sale in a metro area, and not just St. Rose. He added, however, that this was not the largest marijuana bust for St. Charles.
Champagne took the opportunity to herald state civil asset forfeiture laws as a way to curb the drug trade. The rifles, he said, are still undergoing background checks to confirm whether any of them or stolen or were potentially used in other crimes. The Sheriff’s Office hopes to destroy or use the rifles, which included high-capacity magazines, pending a proper civil asset forfeiture process through the district attorney.
“I like to hunt and fish…I have two guns, but nothing like this arsenal,” Champagne said of the weapons. “This is clearly where this money and these weapons are tied to the drug trade. This is the thing we use to hit the drug dealers where it hurts, in the pocketbook and taking their assets.”
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