Youngstown man pleads guilty in heroin ring in New Orleans

Staff/wire report

Federal authorities in New Orleans say a Youngstown man, once charged with murder in Mahoning County, and a New Orleans resident pleaded guilty last week in connection with a heroin-distribution ring.

U.S. Attorney Kenneth Polite said in a news release Friday that Jason Payne, 37, of Youngstown, and 39-year-old Stanley Fulton of New Orleans each pleaded guilty to one criminal count in a heroin-distribution indictment.

They were the last of nine defendants to plead guilty in the case.

The charges came after Drug Enforcement Administration agents conducted court-authorized wire intercepts on the cellphones of New Orleans-area heroin dealers.

Sentencing of Fulton and Payne was set for Oct. 29. Polite said Fulton faces a sentence of 20 years to life, and Payne faces a sentence of 10 years to life.

Payne had aggravated-murder charges dismissed against him in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in 2000.

He was charged with the Feb. 7, 1996, slaying of Richard L. Green II, 18, who was a basketball player at Chaney High School.

He also was charged with the attempted aggravated murder of Samuel Gordon of Westchester Drive, Austintown, who was visiting the Green home at the time of the shooting.

The county prosecutor’s office, however, dismissed both cases because of a lack of evidence. At that time, Payne lived on Ferndale Avenue on the city’s South Side.