Pubdate: Thu, 23 Dec 2004 Source: Advocate, The (LA) Copyright: 2004 The Advocate, Capital City Press Contact: http://www.theadvocate.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2 Author: Penny Brown Roberts, Advocate staff writer 2 TOP OFFICIALS LEAVING JOBS FIGHTING CRIME Baton Rouge is losing chiefs at two of its top federal crime-fighting agencies. Jerry Dennis, who heads the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Baton Rouge field office, is retiring Jan. 3. Warren Rivera, the agent in charge of the local field office for the Drug Enforcement Administration, leaves in February for reassignment in Bolivia. Both are leaving their posts as the number of cases those agencies have investigated are at record numbers. Department of Justice statistics show there were 60 drug prosecutions in Baton Rouge federal court this year in the nine-parish area -- nearly three times greater than 2001. There were 60 gun prosecutions this year, a 30 percent increase during the same time period. "I hate to see them go because we've had an excellent working relationship, and both of them have helped us achieve significant increases in prosecutions in their areas," U.S. Attorney David Dugas said Wednesday. "They've been very effective in their positions." Dennis, 56, is a Texas native who spent his entire ATF career in Louisiana -- first as an agent in Shreveport for 14 years and then as resident agent in charge in Baton Rouge for another 14 years. His biggest case here was against Andre Ferguson, the former owner of Andre's Arms. At least 125 of the guns Ferguson sold turned up at crime scenes from 1999 to 2002 -- including six murders, 21 drug cases and one kidnapping. Ferguson pleaded guilty in 2002 to five counts of knowingly selling firearms to prohibited persons and is serving a four-year sentence in federal prison. Said Dennis: "That was a very significant case just because that was the source of so many illegal guns out there." The ATF agent said he believes the agency's biggest impact during his tenure has been Project Exile -- an illegal gun eradication program. The program has been criticized by some who say its primary purpose is to pump up federal prosecution statistics, but Dennis contends it has "really made an impact on violent crime in Baton Rouge." Dennis, who plans to remain in Baton Rouge, will be replaced by veteran ATF Special Agent Milton Bonaventure. Rivera, 43, is a Metairie native who's been with the DEA since 1986. He served in New Orleans, Los Angeles, Denver and Washington, D.C., before taking the reins of the Baton Rouge office in June 2002. He supervises some 45 agents, task force members and other employees in Baton Rouge and Lafayette. In his new DEA post in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, he'll be in charge of a group of DEA agents and foreign national police. During his tenure, the Baton Rouge DEA has investigated several high-profile cases. In July, a Baton Rouge grand jury indicted two Las Vegas men accused of selling designer drugs under the guise of "research chemicals" that might have led to the death of a St. Francisville man. Both of the accused have pleaded innocent to the charges; their trial is pending. And in April, agents arrested five Baton Rouge-area men accused of being dealers in an international drug ring believed responsible for 15 percent of all Ecstasy smuggled into the country. It was part of a two-year investigation that extended into Canada and the Netherlands and brought about the arrests of 200 people nationwide. Rivera also said DEA has stepped up the number of wiretaps involved in its investigations. Before his arrival in 2002, he said, the last one was in 1996. Exact statistics were not available Wednesday. Said Rivera, whose replacement has not been named: "I think we've made a significant dent in the drug trade in Baton Rouge." - --- MAP posted-by: Derek