Teen gets 30-years for manslaughter for 2012 killing of a man he knew for years but shot him as the victim slept in a Chalmette house; Plot centered on 10.5 pounds of methamphetamine worth $535,000

In a case centering on the largest amount of methamphetamine ever found in St. Bernard Parish – 10.5 pounds worth $535,000 – a male who was 17 in 2012 when he killed a man he knew for years as the victim slept, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for manslaughter.

Jorge Ramirez was arrested for first-degree murder Oct. 2, 2012, the same day Leandro Morales De La Cruz, 32, was found shot to death in a half-double he and Ramirez had rented only a week earlier in the 8500 block of Regiment Drive in Chalmette.

Also, Ramirez attempted to kill the dead man’s brother, Martin De La Cruz, 26, by striking him in the head with a blunt object, Sheriff James Pohlmann said at the time. Ramirez was found hiding under a shed on a lot near where Leandro De La Cruz was murdered. Martin De La Cruz survived his injuries and was taken into custody after being hospitalized.

Now 18, Ramirez pleaded guilty Monday, Nov. 18, to manslaughter in a plea agreement with prosecutors and was sentenced to 30 years in prison by state District Judge Kirk Vaughn in Chalmette.

Also, Ramirez was sentenced to 20 years –which will run concurrently with the 30 – by Vaughn after the defendant pleaded guilty to attempted manslaughter in the attempted murder of Martin De La Cruz.

Sheriff Pohlmann said Ramirez had traveled to Chalmette with the man he killed only weeks before he shot him as he slept. They came in order to join up with the brother of the man killed and help him in a large-scale methamphetamine conspiracy. Brother Martin De La Cruz was distributing the drug in the New Orleans area and had been living in eastern St. Bernard Parish while doing so, the sheriff said.

“The motive for the killing was to steal the narcotics’’ that had been brought to Chalmette from eastern St. Bernard for safekeeping as it w, Sheriff Pohlmann said after Ramirez’ arrest.

He said Ramirez confessed after his arrest, admitting he killed the man he came here with, tried to kill the brother already living here, and took the meth he knew about, intending to take it back to North Carolina.

Initially, about 10 pounds of meth was recovered and investigators found the other half-pound more of the meth several days later, which Ramirez apparently didn’t know existed.

Ramirez was held in St. Bernard Parish Prison in lieu of bond set at $1.5 million during the 13 months since his arrest but he has been transferred to a state prison after his guilty pleas, the sheriff said.