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.