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Abita Springs cop sentenced in cocaine distribution case




A Abita Springs police lieutenant who previously was found guilty of cocaine distribution received a 35-year prison sentence after a state judge decided Monday that he fit the definition of a habitual offender. Panagiotis Ioannis Kondylis, 45, faced a maximum of 30 years in prison on the cocaine distribution charge, but his habitual offender status could have put him in prison for life.
A St. Tammany Parish jury convicted Kondylis of cocaine distribution in August in a 10-2 vote. Assistant District Attorney Jason Cuccia filed a multiple offender bill in November, which included a list of at least nine of Kondylis' prior felony convictions.
Kondylis' defense attorney, Stephen Yazbeck, denied the allegations in court. The denial did not sway Judge Richard Swartz, who tacked five years on to the maximum penalty in Kondylis' case.
The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office arrested Kondylis in 2010 after investigators received a tip that he was peddling drugs from an apartment near Mandeville.
Deputies went to the apartment to serve Kondylis with an outstanding warrant for cocaine distribution and intercepted him as he left carrying a gym bag with cocaine, methamphetamine and dozens of pills, authorities said at the time.
In 2006, Kondylis pleaded guilty to corruption charges in connection with a cash-for-commissions scandal in the Abita Springs Police Department. Kondylis, the police chief and another member of the department sold 200 cop badges to civilians who used them for toll waivers to cross the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway.