CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Ahead of National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day on Friday, August 21, the U.S. Attorney’s Office is raising awareness about the dangers of illicit fentanyl and inviting the public to join “A Conversation on Fentanyl: Awareness, Prevention, and Public Health.” U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson will host the...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Omar Antonio Jaramillo-Meza, 24, an illegal alien from Mexico with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, was sentenced today to 12 years in prison for trafficking more than 133,000 counterfeit pills containing fentanyl, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Following his prison...

ATLANTA - Walter Lee Muhammad, a multi-convicted drug trafficker whose 2020 sentence for fentanyl trafficking was commuted by former President Joe Biden in December 2024, appeared in federal court today on a new fentanyl-trafficking charge filed in the Northern District of Georgia. “Muhammad is a serial drug trafficker who –...

ATLANTA - Gabriel Ojeda Murguia, a violent criminal with a history of hurting other people, was sentenced today to nine years in prison after his conviction for trafficking over 25 kilograms of fentanyl and other drugs in the Atlanta area. “The obscene amount of fentanyl Murguia possessed posed a significant...

TACOMA, Wash. – A 42-year-old Phoenix man with prior convictions for drug trafficking was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 150 months (12.5 years) in prison for acting as a broker for huge amounts of methamphetamine and fentanyl headed to western Washington. Ryan Matthew Gennette was a...

SEATTLE – The leader of a wide-ranging drug distribution network that was uncovered when law enforcement focused on Seattle’s International District and nearby homeless encampments was sentenced to ten years in prison on Wednesday. Octavio Salazar Palma, 34, of Federal Way, Washington was arrested in May 2025 following a lengthy...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A Fairbanks woman was sentenced to 21 years in prison on Wednesday for her role in distributing fentanyl that resulted in the overdose death of local man in 2022. According to court documents, from May to July 2022, Samantha Pearson, 39, and Edward Ginnis, 40, of Fairbanks...

ATLANTA – An indictment unsealed today in the Northern District of Georgia charges Jonathan Eric Gardiner, a convicted felon and Bahamian national, with federal drug importation and conspiracy offenses. U.S. officials arrested Gardiner after rescuing him from the Atlantic Ocean following a plane crash on May 14, 2026. “International cocaine...

SEATTLE- The young leader of a drug trafficking ring that persisted in bringing large loads of drugs to western Washington despite multiple law enforcement seizures, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 130 months in prison, announced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Hector Duran Aldaco...

SEATTLE – A 65-year-old national of the Dominican Republic, who was arrested in Colombia and extradited to the U.S., was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 96 months in prison for conspiracy to import cocaine and conspiracy to launder money, announced First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil...