Slidell Man Gets 30 Years In Prison For Death of Mandeville Teen Who Smoked Mojo

A Slidell man has been sentenced after pleading guilty in St. Tammany Parish court to supplying the synthetic marijuana that led to a Mandeville teen’s death according to authorities.

District Attorney Warren Montgomery announced that Jamie D. Cooper, age 35, of Slidell, pleaded guilty on Friday (Jan. 4) to negligent homicide and distribution of synthetic marijuana for providing the drugs that led to the death of a Mandeville teenager in 2016. Cooper was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The crime came to the attention of the Covington Police Department on March 13, 2016, when officers were called to the Columbia Landing, where they discovered the unresponsive body of a 17-year-old Mandeville boy. Another teenager, who had called the police, admitted that he and his friend had smoked a brand of synthetic marijuana, known as Mojo. The surviving teen said he passed out and awakened to find his friend on top of him in a ditch filled with water. The boy later was pronounced dead at a St. Tammany hospital.

The teens had bought the drugs for $20 from a middle man, Jarbari Pea, 25, of Covington, who pleaded guilty in May 2017 to negligent homicide and Distribution of Synthetic Cannabinoids (Schedule 1) for his role in the crime.