NEW ORLEANS — A Texas couple has been sentenced to prison following their involvement in a scheme that killed a Slidell teenager.
On Tuesday, Carlos Mario Cantu-Cox, 49, and his husband Christopher Cantu-Cox, 38, both of Pasadena, were sentenced to twenty years of imprisonment, fiver years of of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine — the maximum sentence allowed under the Controlled Substances Act.
In February 2020, the two (along with nine other defendants) pled guilty to a drug conspiracy that left Vincent Stolese, an 18-year-old from Slidell, dead.
Court documents indicate that the Cantu-Coxes were large-scale meth suppliers to the Houston and New Orleans areas. The two sent meth to themselves and other drug traffickers in the New Orleans area using services including the U.S. Postal Service and Greyhound Package Express. This occurred from some time before January 1, 2016 until mid-August that year.
The Scheme that Resulted a Teen’s Death
Stolese was one of the couple’s customers who frequently traveled to Texas to stay at their home. During one of these visits, the teen was arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm. The Cantu-Coxes posted his $6,000 bond. However, the Stolese did not appear for his Texas court appearances, leading the couple to take drastic measures to get their money back.
The Cantu-Coxes contacted their New Orleans customers, saying they wanted the teenager back in Texas so they could recover their bond in exchange for free meth. William Harrison Farris, 40, a dealer and user based in New Orleans who was supplied by the couple, had previously dated Kacie Doucet, 38, another meth user in New Orleans. Farris knew that Doucet was connected to the Stolese on Facebook, and instructed her to contact the him. On multiple occasions, Doucet contacted the teen, suggesting they meet up for sex. Farris and Doucet enlisted the help of Leilani Aspuria, 26, of Jefferson Parish — the only one of the three with a car.
The Cantu-Coxes were aware that Doucet’s offer for sex with Stolese was fake, knowing that the real reason for the meet-up was to give him a cocktail of powerful drugs used to debilitate him. The couple provided the drugs, which included ketamine, plus instructions on how to combine the mixture with alcohol so that it could be given to the teenager without him knowing.
In Feburary 2016, Doucet and Aspuria (followed by Harris on his motorcycle) picked Stolese up from his grandfather’s house and gave him the cocktail, which the two called an “elixir.” At one point, the teen passed out and the group met the Cantu-Coxes in the parking garage of Harrah’s Casino in New Orleans. Farris was later given meth for his efforts in capturing the teen.
After transporting the Stolese’s body into their car, the couple drove back to Texas.
Court documents report that the couple realized Stolese was no longer breathing somewhere near the Louisiana-Texas border. The two continued onto their home, and once they arrived, they left the body in the car due to it still being daylight.
The night of February 24, the Cantu-Coxes drive to a bridge over Sims Bayou in the Houston area and dumped the teen’s body into the water. One week later, the body washed onto the shore of Sims Bayou.
The Aftermath
Farris, Doucet, and Aspuria have since pled guilty to distributing ketamine. In February 2020, Aspuria was sentenced to 10 years in prison, while Doucet and Farris are still awaiting sentencing. Both are scheduled to be sentenced in August.
