3 weeks Ago
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save A Broussard man has pleaded guilty in federal court in connection with the alleged operation of a "chop shop" for stolen vehicles and equipment across four states that netted over $250,000. Christopher Don Byerley, 45, of Broussard pleaded guilty to various federal charges before U.S.
District Judge Brian Jackson, according to a news release by acting U.S. Attorney April Leon of the Middle District of Louisiana.
Byerley pleaded guilty to: Conspiracy to transport a stolen motor vehicle. Altering, removing and obliterating a vehicle identification number. Possession of 15 or more unauthorized access devices.
Conspiracy to trafficking a firearm and receipt of a trafficked firearm. Receipt of a trafficked firearm. Possession of an unregistered silencer.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Byerley admitted as part of a guilty plea that between October 2021 and March 2022 he worked with co-conspirators Robert Gregory Brazell, Adrienne Marie King and Dennis Loyd Sizemore on a "coordinated and complex operation" that stretched across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas.
The group, according to the news release, stole and subsequently used or sold the stolen and altered vehicles, including tractors, excavators, forklifts and a pickup truck, with a total value of over $250,000. The scheme involved fraudulent documentation, a “chop shop” for equipment disassembly and tampering, a false business front such as “Hevyquip L.L.
C.” to sell stolen equipment, altering Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) and the use of surveillance evasion tools, such as GPS signal blockers, vehicle plate flippers and fake driver’s licenses, the release states. They also allegedly used over 400 identities and access devices to evade detection.
Byerley, a convicted felon, also allegedly used a third party to illegally buy a firearm that was later fitted with an unregistered silencer, according to the attorney's office. Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office detectives investigating a February 2022 shoplifting incident, the release states, uncovered items from a stolen truck being driven by Byerley. The items included a functional, unregistered firearm silencer; an FN Model 509 9mm pistol and ammunition; and documentation detailing parts orders for silencers all in Byerley’s handwriting; multiple text messages and photographs pointing to intent to traffic firearms and circumvent federal regulations; and numerous documents, records, emails, text messages and photos that led law enforcement to uncover the conspiracy and criminal operation.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (Baton Rouge and Lafayette Field Divisions), Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, Louisiana State Police (Latent PrintSection and the Bureau of Identification and Information), Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office, Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office, East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, St.
Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office, St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office, Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office, Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Department and Lafayette Police Department. Byerley has a long history of criminal activity in Lafayette Parish including drug and theft charges dating from 2016-2024, according to the Lafayette Parish Clerk of Court's records.
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