SEATTLE - The U.S. Department of Justice and Bartell Drug Inc., today resolved allegations that, between July 2016 and August 2020, the pharmacy chain filled invalid prescriptions in violation of the Controlled Substances Act. Under the terms of the settlement, Bartell Drug will pay the government an $800,000 fine. Bartell...

SEATTLE – Eleven people have been indicted by a grand jury sitting in the Western District of Washington for a multi-state drug trafficking conspiracy. One of those indicted is a rap artist from Snohomish County, Washington, who discussed his drug trafficking activity in a documentary video. All of those in...

SEATTLE - Eight people who were charged in a wide-ranging drug investigation that resulted in the seizure of significant quantities of suspected fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine were arrested earlier today. All those arrested appeared in U.S. District Court in Seattle today. “The rising numbers of fentanyl overdoses is on the...

SEATTLE - A federal felon, arrested for violating his supervised release, faces new prison time following his guilty plea to drug and gun possession charges. Joshua Lobben, 32, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm...

SEATTLE – DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day brought in nearly a million pounds of unused, expired, and unwanted medications across the country, the largest amount ever collected in the program’s ten years. Americans once again showed their dedication to remove prescription pills from their homes to prevent addiction...

PORTLAND, Ore. - Members of a major international drug trafficking organization, including one of its ringleaders and sources of supply from Mexico, have been charged with distributing methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl into Oregon between 2018 and 2020. A federal grand jury in Eugene has returned a one-count indictment charging Victor...

SEATTLE - Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Administrator Timothy J. Shea today announced that the DEA will direct resources to help reduce violent crime in communities throughout the country. Under this initiative, called Project Safeguard, DEA will identify and prioritize ongoing drug trafficking investigations with a nexus to violent crime. “D...

SPOKANE, Wash., - On October 21 - 22, 2020, United States Attorney William Hyslop and DEA Special Agent in Charge Keith Weis announced a coordinated Opioid Fentanyl Outreach initiative by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, community leaders, prevention specialists and school superintendents in Spokane and the Tri-Cities areas...

RICHLAND, Wash. - Sami Anwar, age 41, of Richland, Washington, was sentenced today by Senior District Judge Edward F. Shea to a 340-month term of imprisonment for falsifying human clinical research trials in connection with a fraud scheme directed by Mr. Anwar. After a three-week jury trial in Richland in...

EUGENE, Ore. - A Eugene Springfield Fire Department paramedic has been charged with illegally obtaining controlled substances from a local pharmacy and using them to drug and rape multiple female victims. Edward Augustus Blake, 44, a resident of Cheshire, Oregon, has been charged by federal criminal complaint with conspiring to...