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...

TUCSON, Ariz. – Oswaldo Lopez-Escobar, of Mexico, was charged by complaint on October 5, 2023, for Possession with Intent to Distribute Cocaine. The complaint alleges that, on October 4, 2023, Lopez-Escobar, driving a semi-truck, applied for admission into the United States from Mexico at the Mariposa Port of Entry in...

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Hector Manuel Cruz, Jr., 29, of Chandler, was sentenced last week by United States District Judge G. Murray Snow to 15 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release. On April 25, 2023, Cruz pleaded guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine. Co-defendant Konstantin...

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...

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...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Today, U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced Brandon Lee Nalley, 48, of Hendersonville, N.C., to 168 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for trafficking methamphetamine, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. According to filed documents and...

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Martha Betancourth Angulo, 34, of Torrance, California, was indicted on one count each of Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine and Possession with Intent to Distribute Cocaine. The indictment alleges that, on June 29, 2023, Angulo was traveling on Interstate 8 in Yuma County, Arizona, when she...

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Rudy Vasquez Cervantes, 20, of Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, was indicted last week by a federal grand jury in Phoenix on one count of Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine. The indictment alleges that, on June 30, 2023, Cervantes was traveling by vehicle when he was stopped...

SAVANNAH, GA: The leader of a drug trafficking conspiracy that distributed kilos of cocaine and large amounts of other illegal drugs throughout the coastal Georgia area has been sentenced to more than 25 years in federal prison, concluding prosecution of Operation Deadlier Catch. Joseph Bulloch, a/k/a “Lil Joe,” 34, of...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – U.S. Attorney Dena J. King announced today that a federal jury has convicted Jonathan Craig Otuel, 36, of Stallings, N.C., of conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Otuel previously pleaded guilty...