SAVANNAH, GA -- 17 additional defendants indicted on drug trafficking and firearms charges as part of Operation Vanilla Gorilla have pled guilty in federal court, bringing to 33 the total number of guilty pleas only months after charges were filed. Operation Vanilla Gorilla, an investigation by the Organized Crime Drug...

SAVANNAH, Ga. - A multi-agency operation in the Southern District of Georgia is receiving national recognition for dismantling a major drug trafficking organization whose methods included delivering contraband to prisons with drones and using funding from a lottery winner. The Southern District’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force received the...

SAVANNAH, Ga: Two people are facing substantial prison sentences and fines after pleading guilty to federal heroin trafficking charges. Gary Johnson , a/k/a “G,” 44, and Jamison Lanier , a/k/a “Monica Lewinsky,” 36, both of Savannah, have each pled guilty to Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute and Conspiracy...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Today, U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced Linda Liceth Prada-Ardilla, 29, a Colombian national residing in Asheville, N.C., to 135 months in prison and five years of supervised release for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, announced United States Drug Enforcement Administration Atlanta Field Division Special Agent...

CLEVELAND – On Monday, March 18, and Tuesday, March 19, 2019, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federation of State Medical Boards hosted two regional one-day Practitioner Diversion Awareness Conferences. Drug overdoses are still a public health crisis in the United States and the misuse of prescription opioids continue to...

SAVANNAH, Ga. – A physician with clinics in Pooler, Ga., and Braselton, Ga., has been indicted for illegally prescribing drugs to non-patients and ordered held in custody pending trial in federal court. Dr. Johnny Di Blasi , 46, of Braselton, Ga., is named in a nine-count indictment for conspiracy to...

SAVANNAH, Ga. – Sixteen of the defendants indicted on drug trafficking and firearms charges as part of Operation Vanilla Gorilla have pled guilty in federal court, including the lead defendant in the gang. Operation Vanilla Gorilla targeted the notorious Ghost Face Gangsters, a violent criminal street gang largely operated from...

SAVANNAH, Ga. – Three people, including two medical professionals, are among defendants recently prosecuted in federal court as part of continued efforts to crack down on opioid abuse. Lisa Marie Douthit, 42, a pharmacy technician at a Walgreen’s in Bryan County, was sentenced to three months in prison by U.S...

DETROIT – The Drug Enforcement Administration urges its DEA-registered practitioners and members of the public to be cautious of telephone calls from criminals posing as DEA or other law enforcement personnel threatening arrest and prosecution for supposed violations of federal drug laws or involvement in drug-trafficking activities. DEA continues to...

CLEVELAND - Twenty-two people were indicted in federal court for their roles in a conspiracy to traffic fentanyl, heroin, fentanyl analogues including carfentanil, and other drugs, which they sold in Euclid and Cleveland to customers from across Northeast Ohio. Named in the 42-count indictment are: Joseph P. Gray, Jr., 30...