SAN DIEG O - Former U.S. Border Patrol Agent Hector Hernandez, who admitted that he took bribes to smuggle methamphetamine and people across the U.S.-Mexico border while on duty, was sentenced in federal court today to 87-months in prison. Hernandez pleaded guilty in January, admitting that he agreed to use...

SAN DIEGO -Josue Adan Lemus-Lara, aka “Fenix,” was sentenced in federal court today to 260 months in prison. His sentence follows his conviction after a week-long jury trial in November 2023 where he was convicted on all charges in a maritime cocaine trafficking conspiracy. During a multi-year wiretap investigation led...

SAN DIEGO - William Estuardo Lemus-Lara, aka “Humilde,” a high-level cartel boss from Guatemala, was sentenced in federal court today to 210 months in federal prison. According to public documents, Lemus-Lara was identified as the leader of a transcontinental criminal organization that moved multi-ton quantities of cocaine from South America...

DALLAS, TX - The head of a Fort Worth drug trafficking operation and his associate have been federal charged, announced Special Agent in Charge Eduardo A. Chávez Leeroy Marquee Jones, aka Aladdin, 32, and Christopher Antwuan George, 21, were charged via criminal complaint with conspiracy to possess with intent to...

DALLAS, TX - Twenty-five alleged drug traffickers have been charged in “Operation Papercheck Fresh,” announced DEA Dallas Special Agent in Charge Eduardo A. Chávez. During a large-scale operation last Thursday – which involved eight law enforcement agencies targeting nine locations, including a recording studio in Dallas’ Bryan Place neighborhood –...

SAN DIEGO – A two-year investigation has led to the indictment of 26 defendants for international drug smuggling, drug trafficking, and related conspiracy offenses. One of the defendants, Raul Barajas-Padilla, appeared in federal court yesterday for an initial appearance on the indictment. So far, 17 defendants have been arrested. Efforts...

SAN DIEGO – Angel Dominguez Ramirez Jr., a former U.S. Marine with dual U.S. and Mexican citizenship, was sentenced in federal court to 195 months in prison for leading an international organization that transported ton-quantities of cocaine from South America to Mexico and into the United States. Dominguez had previously...

DALLAS, TX – A Panamanian national has pleaded guilty to drug trafficking violations during his federal trial in the Eastern District of Texas, announced Eduardo A. Chávez, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Dallas Field Division. Jorge Albeiro Silva-Salazar, 53, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture and distribute five...

DALLAS, TX - A cocaine trafficker from Tulsa was convicted at trial of drug and gun charges, announced Eduardo A. Chávez, Special Agent in Charge of DEA’s Dallas Field Division. After three days of trial and seven hours of deliberation, a federal jury in Dallas found Roberto Chairez, 33, guilty...

DALLAS, TX- An Arlington physician has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for fraud and drug crimes, announced DEA Special Agent in Charge Eduardo A. Chávez. In July 2021, a federal jury convicted physician Clinton Battle, 69, of one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and one...