ST LOUIS– The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will recognize National Fentanyl Awareness Day, Wednesday, April 29, as a show of support for the agency’s valued partners in law enforcement, public health and non-profit agencies. Fentanyl-related deaths have decreased in the past several years, yet fentanyl remains the leading cause...

ST. LOUIS – Three St. Louis area residents have admitted selling fentanyl and other drugs via social media, including drugs that caused one fatal and one nonfatal overdose. Aeman Ali, 23, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Tuesday to aiding and abetting the maintaining of a drug-involved...

ST. LOUIS – A convicted felon who supplied the fentanyl that caused one fatal and two nonfatal overdoses in St. Louis in 2023 was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. On Dec. 2, 2023, Victor Mora approached three men who were at a gas station and offered to take...

WASHINGTON — In a superseding indictment unsealed today, high-ranking members of the Sinaloa Cartel are facing federal charges for their alleged involvement in trafficking hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine into southern Illinois and laundering the proceeds to Mexico. “The Sinaloa Cartel relies on drug trafficking to finance...

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Friday sentenced a man who sold the fentanyl that killed two twin brothers in St. Charles County in 2023 to 14 years in prison. Jesse Charleston, 35, of Florissant, pleaded guilty in January in U.S. District Court in St. Louis...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Columbia, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for possessing fentanyl that he intended to distribute in Springfield, Mo. Michael E. Hunt, Jr., 43, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes to 15 years in federal prison without parole. Hunt was found guilty...

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk on Thursday sentenced a man who sold the fentanyl that killed one woman and sent another to the hospital in one day in 2019 to 14 years in prison. Zachary Hovis, 24, provided fentanyl to an 18-year-old woman in the parking...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Raytown, Mo., man was indicted by a federal grand jury today after federal agents found large quantities of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and heroin in his residence along with several firearms. Jauan D. Pratt, 30, was charged in a three-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – An Osage Beach, Mo., nurse pleaded guilty in federal court today to illegally obtaining fentanyl from a hospital for his own use. Charles Welch Jr., 65, waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Roseann A. Ketchmark to a federal...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Springfield, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to illegally possessing more than a kilogram of fentanyl and 14 firearms. Proevine Lennox Robins, 51, pleaded guilty to one count possessing fentanyl with the intent to distribute and one count of possessing firearms in furtherance of...