SPOKANE, Wash. —On May 6, 2026, United States District Court Judge Thomas Rice sentenced Clinton Paul Patterson, age 42 to 240 months (20 years) in prison to be followed by ten years of supervised release for his role in a significant fentanyl trafficking operation that distributed tens of thousands of...

WASHINGTON - Eleven defendants are charged in a five-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in connection with a sprawling, transnational drug trafficking organization that imported massive quantities of methamphetamine from California and gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) from South Korea for distribution...

Baltimore, Md. – Today, State’s Attorney Ivan J. Bates announced the takedown of three Drug Trafficking Organizations operating in the West Baltimore area. An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at trial. “The concentration of Drug Trafficking Organizations in the Penn North Area is...

SPOKANE, Wash. –Dr. Duncan Lahtinen, a licensed physician, has paid $120,000.00 in penalties to resolve allegations that he wrote prescriptions for controlled substances that lacked legitimate medical purposes or were outside the usual course of his professional practice. Between 2017 and 2025, Dr. Lahtinen issued over 1,400 prescriptions for controlled...

SPOKANE, Wash. – On August 29, 2025, United States District Judge Thomas O. Rice sentenced Jaskaran Singh, 31, of Punjab, India, to more than 17 years in federal prison for possessing with intent to distribute almost $8 million worth of the drug MDMA, commonly known as “Molly.” Singh was in...

BOISE – Michael Paul Lacasse, 48, and Venetia Dawn Trischan, 47, of Caldwell, were sentenced to 133 months and 96 months, respectively, in federal prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine. According to court records, in December 2023, law enforcement learned that Lacasse and Trischan were involved in...

SPOKANE, Wash. – Today a jury returned a verdict in the federal trial of Jaskaran Singh, age 31, who is a native of Gujarat, India. Singh was found guilty of Possession with Intent to Distribute 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), which is more commonly known as “Ecstasy” or “Molly.” United States District Judge...

Greenbelt, Maryland – After a seven-day trial, a federal jury returned a verdict against OJ Rashad Green, also known as “Ice” age 36, of Accokeek, finding him guilty of knowingly and intentionally distributing fentanyl, a controlled substance, on multiple occasions. The guilty verdict was announced by Phil Selden, Acting United...

WASHINGTON – A federal court ordered an Elkin, North Carolina, pharmacy to pay a $500,000 penalty and enjoined the pharmacy and its pharmacists from dispensing controlled substances, including opioids, without taking steps to help ensure the drugs will not be abused or diverted. The consent decree resolves a complaint filed...

Baltimore, Maryland – Erek L. Barron, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland and Jarod Forget, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Division, announced that their agencies have formed the Maryland Fatal Fentanyl Overdose Task Force (“MFFOTF”). The alarming rate of overdoses in Maryland has...