DEA Warning: Scammers Impersonating DEA Agents Are Stealing Identities, Money LOS ANGELES – The Drug Enforcement Administration is warning the public of a widespread fraud scheme in which telephone scammers impersonate DEA agents in an attempt to extort money or steal personal identifiable information. A new public service announcement aims...

AUGUSTA, GA - A Burke County man has admitted taking part in an operation that distributed methamphetamine after investigators discovered the scheme through delivery of a commercial pill press. Telly Savalas Carswell, 47, of Midville, Ga., pled guilty in U.S. District Court to Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute...

ATLANTA, GA. – With opioid overdose deaths increasing during the pandemic, the Drug Enforcement Administration announces its 20th Take Back Day is scheduled for April 24th. At its last Take Back Day in October, DEA collected a record-high amount of expired, unwanted, and unused prescription medications, with the public turning...

Los Angeles – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Mexican national Juan Manuel Abouzaid El Bayeh (“Abouzaid El Bayeh”) as a Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act). OFAC designated Abouzaid El Bayeh for his...

LOS ANGELES – DEA Acting Administrator D. Christopher Evans today announced the release of the 2020 National Drug Threat Assessment, DEA’s annual publication outlining the threats posed to the United States by domestic and international drug trafficking and the abuse of illicit drugs. “This year’s report shows the harsh reality...

COLUMBUS, Ga. – A Columbus man with a lengthy criminal history was sentenced to serve 168 months in federal prison for attempting to distribute a half-kilo of methamphetamine, said Peter D. Leary, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia. Jeffery McBride, 40, of Columbus, was sentenced by...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell sentenced Aleef Jamar Nicks, 39, of Charlotte, to 108 months in prison yesterday, on drug trafficking and firearm charges, announced Andrew Murray, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Judge Bell also ordered Nicks to serve three years under...

MACON, GA - Twelve defendants have been charged in a newly unsealed federal indictment alleging a middle Georgia drug trafficking conspiracy. Eight men and four women are charged as part of Operation Breaking the Bond, an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation centered in the Bibb County area, said...

BRUNSWICK, GA - A Charlton County man who admitted trafficking methamphetamine in south Georgia has been sentenced to more than 20 years in federal prison. Phillip Yarbrough, 39, of Folkston, Ga., was sentenced to 264 months in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood after pleading guilty to...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Today, U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney sentenced Jose Flores Romero, 29, of Mexico, to 87 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release on drug trafficking charges, announced Andrew Murray, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. According to filed court documents...