WAYCROSS, Ga. -- Two drug traffickers, including an illegal alien with ties to a Mexican drug cartel, will spend more than a decade in federal prison after sentencing in a methamphetamine conspiracy. Ricardo Santana-Hernandez, a/k/a “Richard Hernandez,” a/k/a “Armond,” a/k/a “Armani,” 32, of C’daltimairano, Guerroro, Mexico, was sentenced to 135...

ROME, Ga. - Daniel Landa-Duerta, Mauricio Dominguez-Vazquez, and Jorge Armando Avalos-Menera have been arraigned on federal charges related to methamphetamine seized from a conversion laboratory in Dallas, Georgia. “The cocktail of deadly chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamine are a recipe for disaster,” said Special Agent in Charge of the DEA...

AUGUSTA, Ga.: A Hephzibah man has admitted owning a stash of drugs and a handgun that led to his arrest on federal charges. In United States District Court on Wednesday, July 10, Eric Bernard Ferguson, 37, of Hephzibah pled guilty to one count of Possession with Intent to Distribute Cocaine...

DALLAS, Ga . – On June 26, 2019, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested Jorge Menera, Daniel Duarte Landa, and Dominguez Marcio Vazquez on charges of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Additional charges are pending. On June 26, 2019, at approximately 9:15 a.m., the GBI Haralson Paulding Drug Task...

ATLANTA – Yadira Gomez-Gonzalez has been sentenced for conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine. Gomez-Gonzalez is the last of three defendants whose drug ring was infiltrated by undercover DEA agents when they attempted to send nearly 14 kilograms of 100 percent pure methamphetamine from California to Georgia...

SAVANNAH, Ga. The lead defendant in a Statesboro drug trafficking conspiracy has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. Natividad Dias , a/k/a “Nat,” “Nate,” “Amigo” or “Huevos,” 46, a Mexican national who lived in Sylvania, Ga., was sentenced to 240 months in federal prison by Chief U.S. District...

SAVANNAH, GA -- 17 additional defendants indicted on drug trafficking and firearms charges as part of Operation Vanilla Gorilla have pled guilty in federal court, bringing to 33 the total number of guilty pleas only months after charges were filed. Operation Vanilla Gorilla, an investigation by the Organized Crime Drug...

SAVANNAH, Ga. - A multi-agency operation in the Southern District of Georgia is receiving national recognition for dismantling a major drug trafficking organization whose methods included delivering contraband to prisons with drones and using funding from a lottery winner. The Southern District’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force received the...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Today, U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced Linda Liceth Prada-Ardilla, 29, a Colombian national residing in Asheville, N.C., to 135 months in prison and five years of supervised release for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, announced United States Drug Enforcement Administration Atlanta Field Division Special Agent...

SAVANNAH, Ga. – Sixteen of the defendants indicted on drug trafficking and firearms charges as part of Operation Vanilla Gorilla have pled guilty in federal court, including the lead defendant in the gang. Operation Vanilla Gorilla targeted the notorious Ghost Face Gangsters, a violent criminal street gang largely operated from...