OAKLAND – Joel Dowen was sentenced to eighteen years in federal prison on August 7, 2026, for engaging in a violent extortion scheme, shooting at a federal officer, drug dealing, and bank fraud. Co-defendant Micah-Luc Almeida was sentenced to three years in federal prison for conspiring to deal drugs with...

GAINESVILLE – Andres Jasso, Jr. and Rufino Pineda-Perez, an illegal alien from Mexico and twice-convicted felon, were sentenced to federal prison for their roles in trafficking over 700 pounds of methamphetamine concealed in a tractor-trailer load of cucumbers outside of a Gainesville, Georgia warehouse. “The defendants attempted to conceal an...

San Francisco – On Friday, August 21, 2026, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will join Facing Fentanyl , to unite families, communities, and organizations across the country in recognizing National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day. This year marks the fifth anniversary of the national observance which honors and remembers the...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Ahead of National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day on Friday, August 21, the U.S. Attorney’s Office is raising awareness about the dangers of illicit fentanyl and inviting the public to join “A Conversation on Fentanyl: Awareness, Prevention, and Public Health.” U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson will host the...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Two fentanyl and methamphetamine traffickers were sentenced to prison yesterday, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Jason Mills, 47, of Hendersonville, N.C., was sentenced to 135 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Mills pleaded guilty to distribution...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – A previously convicted felon was sentenced to prison yesterday for distributing fentanyl, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Sadiq Mafia Devoe Jones, 24, of Asheville, was sentenced to 135 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Jones’s 10-year...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A North Carolina physician has been sentenced to prison for conspiring to allow his Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration number to be used for thousands of unlawful buprenorphine prescriptions, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell...

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Pearish Pierre Pretty, 43, of Columbia, has been sentenced to more than 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of 5 kilograms or more of cocaine and 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. Evidence obtained in...

ATLANTA - Walter Lee Muhammad, a multi-convicted drug trafficker whose 2020 sentence for fentanyl trafficking was commuted by former President Joe Biden in December 2024, appeared in federal court today on a new fentanyl-trafficking charge filed in the Northern District of Georgia. “Muhammad is a serial drug trafficker who –...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Omar Antonio Jaramillo-Meza, 24, an illegal alien from Mexico with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, was sentenced today to 12 years in prison for trafficking more than 133,000 counterfeit pills containing fentanyl, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Following his prison...