WAYCROSS, Ga. – The lead defendant in a Waycross-area fentanyl and heroin trafficking operation has now pled guilty, joining the other five defendants who admitted their roles in the conspiracy. Eric Lashawn Hayes, a/k/a “Pee Wee,” 28, of Blackshear, Ga., awaits sentencing after pleading guilty to Possession of a Firearm...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Former Gadsden County Sheriff’s Office deputy Joseph Barnes, Jr., 54, of Chattahoochee, Florida, was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of giving a false statement to a federal officer. The sentenced was announced by Jason R. Coody, United States Attorney...

WASHINGTON – A federal court ordered a Tampa-area pain management clinic to close and directed the clinic’s owners and its former physician to collectively pay $600,000 in civil penalties pursuant to agreed resolutions in a case alleging violations of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the Justice Department announced today. In...

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA — Ralph Allison Pitt, Jr., 46, of Columbia, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Evidence presented to the Court showed that, on December 6...

MIAMI - Today, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Miami Field Division has issued a Public Safety Alert to warn Florida communities of the increase of mass-overdose events across the state suspected to be related to drug supplies laced with a synthetic opioid. While law enforcement agencies continue to investigate these...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla . – Shawn Andrew Wilson (47, Fernandina Beach) has been sentenced to seven years and eight months in federal prison for possessing with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine and for violating the conditions of...

BRUNSWICK, GA – A newly unsealed federal indictment charges 14 defendants in a South Georgia drug trafficking conspiracy alleged to have been directed from inside a Georgia state prison. The indictment in Operation Pope’s G.O.A.L., an Organized Crime Drug Trafficking Task Force investigation, alleges the drug trafficking conspiracy distributed methamphetamine...

OCALA, Fla . –Jeffrey Walt Boston (45, Orlando) has been sentenced to 8 years and 8 months in federal prison for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and for possessing with the intent to distribute a mixture and substance containing cocaine. He was also required to forfeit the firearm...

TAMPA , F la. – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces the return of an indictment charging Magdiel Carmona (27, Tampa) with one count of conspiracy to distribute narcotics, four counts of possession with the intent to distribute narcotics, four counts of carrying a firearm in furtherance of a...

TAMPA, Fla . –Calfus W. Drummond (37, Gulfport) has been sentenced to 11 years and 6 months in federal prison for possession with the intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl; 500 grams or more of methamphetamine; cocaine and marijuana; and possession of a firearm in furtherance of...