The part-owner of a Shreveport record company, arrested earlier this year in a drug bust in which his 11-year-old daughter was present, has been convicted of drug-possession charges.
Anthony Mark Mandigo, 34, could face life in prison if Caddo prosecutors convince a judge to sentence him as an habitual offender. A hearing is scheduled in October.
Mandigo, a co-owner of Lava House Records, was found guilty Thursday after a bench trial before Caddo District Judge John Joyce.
Mandigo was arrested last March outside a west Shreveport drug store. Assistant District Attorney Jason Brown said Mandigo made a deal with a police informant to sell drugs, then tried to run over a law officer as agents moved in to arrest him.
The officer, who shot out the tires of Mandigo's car, was not injured.
Mandigo's 11-year-old daughter was in the car with him. She ran crying to one of the officers as police arrested her father, agents said.
"She was terrified. The officers were upset; they were worried about her safety," Brown said. "Mandigo was not worried."
Brown cited another drug charge pending against Mandigo in which a child in diapers was with him when he was arrested. Police called the child's mother to come to the scene. When the mother went to change the child's diaper, police found an ounce and a half of drugs in the diaper.
"He uses children to facilitate his drug transactions," Brown said.
Prosecutors hope to use three prior convictions in the past 15 years to get an enhanced sentence for Mandigo: cocaine possession, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and aggravated flight from an officer.
