DENVER – Administrator Anne Milgram has named Brian Besser as the Special Agent in Charge of the Denver Field Division. Besser most recently served as the Interim Assistant Administrator over the Diversion Control Division at DEA headquarters in Washington. As the Special Agent in Charge, Besser will lead a staff...

TAMPA, Fla. –Raymond Malara (38, Tampa) was sentenced to nine years in federal prison for trafficking cocaine, fentanyl, and marijuana. The Court also ordered Malara to forfeit $ 37,820, which is traceable to proceeds of the offense. Malara had pleaded guilty on August 3, 2021. According to court documents, between...

TAMPA, Fla. –Jarran Riley (37, Clearwater) was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for distributing narcotics. Riley had pleaded guilty on December 9, 2021. According to court documents, on June 5, 2019, at approximately 10:30 p.m., detectives from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Dunedin Cove Motel...

OCALA , Fla . – Jeffrey Walt Boston (45, Orlando) pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and possessing with the intent to distribute a mixture and substance containing cocaine. Boston faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet...

TAMPA, Fla – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced that a federal jury has found Damian Sierra (43, Port St. Lucie) guilty of possessing 500 grams or more of cocaine with the intent to distribute it. Sierra faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 5 years, and up to 40...

ORLANDO, Fla. – U.S. District Judges Paul G. Byron and Carlos E. Mendoza have sentenced 11 members of an Osceola County-based drug trafficking organization (DTO) to federal prison sentences ranging between 15 and 300 months for a conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute heroin. One individual was also...

OCALA, Fla. –Tralvaster Epps (34, Ocala) was sentenced to 10 years and 2 months in federal prison for possessing with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine, and marijuana and for possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense. Epps had pleaded guilty on November 18, 2021. According...

MIAMI – This week, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced a new initiative, Operation Overdrive, aimed at combatting the rising rates of drug-related violent crime and overdose deaths plaguing American communities. Last fall, DEA initiated a data-driven approach using national crime statistics and CDC data to identify hot spots of drug-related...

ORLANDO, Fla. –Jesus Manuel Rodriguez-Castillo (39, Kissimmee) was sentenced to eight years and four months in federal prison for distributing fentanyl-laced heroin. Rodriguez-Castillo had pleaded guilty on October 5, 2021. According to court documents, Rodriguez-Castillo sold approximately 290 grams of fentanyl-laced heroin to a cooperating source and an undercover DEA...

ORLANDO, Fla. – U.S. District Judge Paul G. Byron has sentenced Jose Armando Delgado Martinez (35, Orlando) to 14 years in federal prison for his role in a conspiracy to distribute over a kilogram of fentanyl and fentanyl-laced heroin. Delgado-Martinez had pleaded guilty on November 9, 2021. Two of Delgado-Martinez’s...