U.S. Marshals apprehend Louisiana woman on Neshoba warrant

A Louisiana woman has been arrested by United States Marshals in New Orleans in connection with a late May traffic stop on Highway 15 South that ended in a drug arrest.

The woman, Cierra Darlene Nelson, 29, of 5071 Radcliff Drive, Marrero, La., was arrested and charged with giving false ID information and a felon in possession of a firearm, according to Neshoba County Sheriff Eric Clark.

Nelson was initially released from the traffic stop on Friday, April 26.

Another woman, Kelsi Feliciano, 35, of Kiln, was arrested during that traffic stop for trafficking a controlled substance and possession of marijuana in a vehicle.

The deputies found a total of four handguns in the vehicle, as well as bottles of whiskey, the butt of a smoked marijuana cigarette, and a bottle containing 87 ecstasy pills. 

Clark said a test of the pills revealed they contained methamphetamine. More than 40 pills constitute a trafficking charge.

The NCSO also seized the vehicle Feliciano was driving, a brand-new Chevy Suburban with less than 1,000 miles on it.

Though she gave the Kiln address, Clark said Feliciano said she had driven in from New Orleans to look at land to purchase as she believed land is cheaper and the crime is lower in rural Mississippi than in New Orleans.

Clark said deputies initially identified Nelson as a relative of Feliciano’s spouse. A further investigation that included follow-up interviews with Feliciano established that Nelson was, in fact, her married partner.

It was eventually established that Nelson gave the deputies false information and was a convicted felon, making her proximity to the four firearms found in the vehicle illegal. The investigation discovered Nelson had been convicted of an assault charge in Jefferson Parish, Lousiana, in July 2018.

Clarks said they issued a warrant for her arrest on May 7 for the charges related to the late April traffic stop.

On Tuesday, May 21, Clark said he was contacted by U.S. Marshals that they had located Nelson and planned to make an arrest on Wednesday morning. Clark said by 7 a.m. on Wednesday, May 22, he received word that Nelson had been arrested.

She was brought into local custody and remains in the Nehsoba County Detention Center on $10,800 in bond.