CHARLOTTE, N.C. – U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell sentenced Savonte Watkins, 46, of Charlotte, to 42 months in prison on drug charges yesterday, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Judge Bell also ordered Watkins to serve three years under court supervision after...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Today, U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced Joel Wesley Creech, 45, of Brevard, N.C., to 132 months in prison for trafficking methamphetamine, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Judge Reidinger also imposed five years of supervised release following incarceration. According...

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced administrative actions against six DEA-registered companies which, together, failed to account for more than a million doses of opioids. Under DEA initiative “Operation Bottleneck,” DEA served an Immediate Suspension Order and five Orders to Show Cause over a one-month period from...

WASHINGTON, DC – The Drug Enforcement Administration will host its 25th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, October 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This event offers an easy, no-cost opportunity for the community to anonymously dispose of unneeded medications at nearly 5,000 local drop-off locations nationwide...

RALEIGH, N.C. – William Dayshawn Wilson, also known as “Santana,” of New Bern, North Carolina, was sentenced to 234 months in prison for possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl and aiding and abetting. On June 3, 2022, Wilson, age 32, pled guilty to the charges...

RALEIGH, N.C. – The leader an armed drug-trafficking organization (DTO) responsible for moving kilogram quantities of methamphetamine and fentanyl in and around the Craven County area was sentenced yesterday to 420 months in prison for drug trafficking and gun charges. On March 3, 2023, Ivan Leonardo Medina-Beltran, age 45, pled...

SAVANNAH, GA -- Two Georgia men, including one from Bryan County, have been sentenced to federal prison for trafficking the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl. Darien Cothern, 34, of Marietta, Ga., was sentenced to 42 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, and Javarus McKinney, a/k/a “Jody,” 34...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A North Carolina physician appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan C. Rodriguez this morning on charges related to the alleged unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. A criminal indictment charging Henry Ronald Emery, Jr...

WASHINGTON – On September 25 and 26, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration hosted the second annual DEA Family Summit on Fentanyl for families from across the country who have experienced the profound loss of a child due to a drug poisoning. U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and DEA Administrator...

SAVANNAH, GA: A Laurens County, Ga., man identified as a drug supplier in a Southeastern drug trafficking organization has been sentenced to federal prison, and his four co-defendants are serving prison terms after all pled guilty to charges related to the conspiracy. Dennis Rodriguez Kinchen, 46, of Dublin, Ga., was...