18th and Vine restaurant owner admits role in cocaine distribution case

The owner of a restaurant in Kansas City’s 18th and Vine Jazz District pleaded guilty Monday to being part of a large-scale cocaine distribution conspiracy.

Paul Danny Gosserand, 58, owner of Danny’s Big Easy at 18th and Vine streets, was indicted earlier this year by a federal grand jury in U.S. District Court in Kansas City.

In exchange for his guilty plea to the conspiracy charge, prosecutors agreed to dismiss charges of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possessing a firearm as part of a drug trafficking crime.

According to court documents, the charges stemmed from a 2011 undercover investigation in which multiple kilogram amounts of cocaine were bought from Gosserand and his former wife, Jean Stephens.

Stephens, 64, pleaded guilty in November to cocaine distribution. She is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 8.

A confidential informant working with federal agents met Gosserand and Stephens at the restaurant to arrange the purchase of drugs, according to the court documents.

They sold kilograms of the drug for about $30,000.

Agents later served a search warrant of Stephens’ home and recovered more than 2 kilograms of cocaine, about $20,000 and gold coins worth about $15,000, according to the documents.

Sentencing for Gosserand has not been scheduled. He has been free on bond but is required to surrender to federal authorities on Aug. 15 after Monday’s guilty plea.

This story was originally published August 1, 2016 at 3:28 PM with the headline "18th and Vine restaurant owner admits role in cocaine distribution case."