LOS ANGELES —The culmination of a three-month investigation resulted in a Santa Barbara methamphetamine distributor being sentenced on November 8, 2021 to 180 months in federal prison for narcotics violations. Cesar Castillo-Pena, 35, of San Bernardino, California, was sentenced by United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner. On July 28...

LOS ANGELES – An Arizona man has agreed to plead guilty to a federal criminal charge for supplying counterfeit pharmaceutical pills containing fentanyl to the drug dealer accused of selling them to rapper Mac Miller, who soon afterward suffered a fatal overdose, the Justice Department announced today. Ryan Michael Reavis...

ATLANTA - Thomas Ukoshovbera A. Gbenedio has been convicted by a federal jury of illegally dispensing and distributing controlled substances from his pharmacy. “Removing and ultimately eliminating healthcare providers who unlawfully dispense pharmaceutical products for non-medical reasons is an important part of DEA’s mission,” said Special Agent in Charge of...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The supplier of a local drug network has been sentenced to 30 years in prison, announced William T. Stetzer, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Matthew Wondra, 34, of Murphy, N.C., was also ordered to serve five years of supervised release after he...

SAVANNAH, GA: The last of four defendants has been sentenced to federal prison in a drug trafficking conspiracy that shipped cocaine and cash from coast to coast. Kevin Chelsea, 39, of Las Vegas, was sentenced to 37 months in prison after pleading guilty to Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to...

AUGUSTA, GA - Eight men and one woman have been named in a newly unsealed federal indictment for taking part in a major drug trafficking conspiracy that funneled cocaine and other drugs from Atlanta to the Waynesboro, Ga., area. The indictment in USA v. Rhaney et al, dubbed Operation Washout...

ATLANTA – The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), along with its law enforcement and community partners, has removed close to 745,000 pounds of unneeded prescriptions from medicine cabinets across the country as part of DEA’s ongoing commitment to turn the tide against the U.S. opioid epidemic. Following last month’s 21st National...

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The man who supplied cocaine for a major Richmond County drug trafficking operation, and another man who admitted to a firearms offense related to the operation, have been sentenced to federal prison. Mario Hubbard, 45, of Smyrna, Ga., was sentenced to 151 months in prison, fined $35,000...

ATLANTA - Jaime Cruz Duarte, Rito Armando Torres Gutierrez, and Antonio Penaloza Torres have been charged with federal offenses including conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. “This seizure and the...

ROME, Ga. - Shane Terhune has been sentenced for selling heroin to a young couple in July 2018, having admitted that his act of distribution resulted in the overdose death of the woman. This sentence follows the August 2021 sentencing of Cornelius Brown, who received a five-year term of imprisonment...