EL PASO, Texas – Agents and investigators from the Drug Enforcement Administration and Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigation Division conducted multiple independent investigations over the last year focused on identifying and targeting criminal organizations and individuals suspected of prescription drug fraud or manufacture or delivery of a controlled...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Twelve individuals are facing federal drug trafficking and firearms charges as the result of a two-year DEA-led multi-agency investigation into a major New Mexico-based poly-drug trafficking organization allegedly operating between Las Vegas, N.M., and Albuquerque, N.M., under the alleged leadership of Robert Padilla, 42, of Albuquerque. The...

ATLANTA - Francisco Castaneda Rivera has been sentenced to federal prison for transporting 4.24 kilograms of heroin, hidden inside a car battery, from Texas to the Atlanta-area. Robert J. Murphy, special agent in charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division said, “Drug traffickers like Castaneda Rivera often take extreme measures...

Rome, Ga. – Atlanta-area doctor Victor Hanson and former professional football player Sedrick Hodge have been indicted with two other individuals for illegal distribution of prescription drugs, including opioids. “Americans rely on healthcare providers, many of them medical doctors, to use their training to help patients and to ‘do no...

WAYCROSS, Ga. -- Two drug traffickers, including an illegal alien with ties to a Mexican drug cartel, will spend more than a decade in federal prison after sentencing in a methamphetamine conspiracy. Ricardo Santana-Hernandez, a/k/a “Richard Hernandez,” a/k/a “Armond,” a/k/a “Armani,” 32, of C’daltimairano, Guerroro, Mexico, was sentenced to 135...

ROME, Ga. - Daniel Landa-Duerta, Mauricio Dominguez-Vazquez, and Jorge Armando Avalos-Menera have been arraigned on federal charges related to methamphetamine seized from a conversion laboratory in Dallas, Georgia. “The cocktail of deadly chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamine are a recipe for disaster,” said Special Agent in Charge of the DEA...

ATLANTA – Coleman Warnock and Adrian Banks have been sentenced to federal prison for conspiring to manufacture and possess phencyclidine, a psychedelic controlled substance commonly known as “PCP” and “angel dust,” with intent to distribute. The concealed drug lab they operated in Fulton County exploded in July 2013, and burned...

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Two heroin traffickers have been sentenced to federal prison after admitting to their roles in a major drug distribution conspiracy. Gary Johnson, aka “G,” 44, of Savannah, was sentenced to 90 months in federal prison, while Jamison Lanier, aka “Monica Lewinsky,” 36, also of Savannah, was sentenced...

CHARLESTON, S.C. – United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon announced today that Dr. Ronald A. Hargrave, 60, of Mt. Pleasant, has been convicted of illegal distribution of controlled substances after a four-day jury trial in federal court in Charleston. Senior United States District Judge Margaret B. Seymour of Charleston presided...

FLORENCE, S.C. – United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon announced today that Leroy Anthony Griffin, 31, of Myrtle Beach, S.C., was sentenced to over nine years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute Oxycodone. Evidence presented to the court showed that...