SEATTLE – On October 25, 2025, DEA joined 4,263 law enforcement agencies across the country who came together for the 29th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. At 4,317 collection sites nationwide, Take Back events removed 571,054 pounds of unneeded and expired medications from home medicine cabinets to prevent drug...

SEATTLE –The Drug Enforcement Administration, in collaboration with nearly 4,000 law enforcement partners across the country, will host the 29th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day this Saturday, October 25, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. At nearly 4,000 collection sites throughout the United States, DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take...

Seattle – Over the last three weeks, federal, state and local law enforcement have been working to dismantle a Sinaloa Cartel-connected drug trafficking ring distributing fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin throughout western Washington, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. The drug traffickers transported narcotics from Mexico, via California, sometimes...

SPOKANE, Wash.– Acting United States Attorney Stephanie Van Marter announced that Luis Esquivel-Bolanos (a/k/a “Colorado”), age 45, of Guerrero, Mexico was sentenced on multiple drug trafficking and firearms charges. Esquivel-Bolanos was found guilty on April 16, 2025, following a jury trial. United States District Judge Thomas O. Rice sentenced Esquivel-Bolanos...

SEATTLE, Wash. – A U.S. citizen deeply enmeshed in an international drug smuggling conspiracy was sentence in U.S. District Court in Seattle to five years in prison. Just over a year ago, law enforcement teams from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Seattle Police Department and IRS Criminal Investigation executed 24...

EUGENE, Ore.— The leader of a Lane County, Oregon, drug trafficking cell was sentenced to federal prison today for possessing 384 pounds of methamphetamine, the largest single seizure of methamphetamine in Oregon State history and valued at over a million dollars. Martin Manzo Negrete, 51, a Mexican national unlawfully residing...

Seattle – Fourteen people were indicted in late May and eleven were taken into custody in coordinated arrests last week as part of an ongoing investigation of drug traffickers with ties to drug trafficking in Seattle’s International District and homeless encampments, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. The defendants...

Tacoma – A major redistributor for a South Sound-based drug trafficking ring that was connected to Aryan prison gangs was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 126 months in prison, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. 46-year-old Joseph Hempel, of Burien, Washington, was a high-volume drug...

SEATTLE – A 35-year-old Seattle man was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Seattle to eight years in prison for drug distribution and firearm crimes, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. Mohamed Abdirisak Mohamed pleaded guilty in January 2024. Mohamed was indicted in April 2023 after being caught on...

SEATTLE– DEA and nearly 4,500 law enforcement agencies joined forces last month to dispose of more than 620,000 pounds of unneeded and expired medications in an effort to prevent drug misuse and abuse. The spring collection event marked DEA’s 28th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. Since its inception 16...