COVINGTON — A St. Tammany Parish jury found a 46-year-old Covington man guilty on 15 counts of narcotics, weapons, flight and resisting arrest charges, according to District Attorney Collin Sims.

John Silas Joiner, Jr. was convicted following a four-day trial before Judge Richard Swartz. As a convicted felon who was on parole at the time of the offenses, Joiner now faces a mandatory life sentence.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 8.

The conviction stems from two separate law enforcement operations in 2023. The first happened in January 2023, when St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office detectives conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle Joiner was driving.

According to police, Joiner resisted arrest, struck a detective with his elbow and briefly fled on foot before being caught. A search of the vehicle turned up 450 dosage units of fentanyl, crystal methamphetamine, cocaine, a digital scale, brass knuckles and an AR-style 9mm pistol with a 50-round drum magazine.

The second operation came in September 2023, after authorities intercepted a jail video call between Joiner and his co-defendant, Amanda Flocke. The call showed Flocke at a kitchen table counting thousands of fentanyl pills in the presence of minor children.

A search warrant executed at their Mandeville residence uncovered 2,746 dosage units of counterfeit blue fentanyl tablets, crystal methamphetamine, pharmaceutical pills and a lab setup in the garage used to press fraudulent ecstasy tablets.

Flocke, 40, previously pleaded guilty on May 8 to possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl and was sentenced by Judge Swartz to 30 years in the Department of Corrections.