PHOENIX - U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Doug Coleman will announce tomorrow in a press conference the details of a new initiative to help stem the tide of prescription drug abuse in the state. The lucrative illegal prescription drug market and relative ease of which pharmaceutical substances...

PHOENIX - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Doug Coleman announced that on Oct. 6, 2014, Everardo Duarte, 38, of Sonora, Mexico, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow to 12 years imprisonment. Duarte pleaded guilty on July 21, 2014 to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine...

PHOENIX - On Sept. 25, 2014, the final defendant was sentenced in connection with Operation Push the Pawn - an investigation of a Phoenix area drug rip crew conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Internal Revenue Service and the Phoenix Police Department...

PHOENIX - This Saturday, September 27, the Drug Enforcement (DEA) and over 65 law enforcement partners will hold the ninth Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. Arizonans can take their expired, unneeded, or unwanted prescription drugs to one of over 90 collection sites across Arizona between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. The...

PHOENIX - On Aug. 18, 2014, Luis Enrique Villegas-Lugo, 40, of Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Roslyn O. Silverto 17.5 years in prison. Villegas-Lugo pleaded guilty on Feb. 25, 2014 to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine, a...

PHEONIX - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Doug Coleman announced that on July 31, 2014, John Cary Dean, 28, of Phoenix, Ariz., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Douglas L. Rayesto 6.5 years in prison. Dean pleaded guilty on Jan. 23, 2014 to two counts of possession with...

PHOENIX - - On July 23, 2014, Ambrosio Nunez-Lopez, 65, of Mexico, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David G. Campbellto 10 years in prison. Nunez-Lopez pleaded guilty on March 18, 2014 to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine, a felony. The Organized...

PHOENIX - On June 18, 2014, the final defendant was sentenced in connection with Operation Clean Green - a multi-year investigation conducted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Internal Revenue Service. Hector Raul Ortiz-Tarazon, Sr. and his son, Hector Francisco Ortiz, Jr. ran a drug trafficking (DTO) that shipped...

TUCSON, Ariz. - U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA)Special Agent in Charge, Doug Coleman, today announced the seizure of 89 pounds of white heroin and the arrest of seven defendants as part of an 11-month investigation. The seizure marks one of the state’s largest heroin busts. The investigation coined, “Operation Smack Talk”...

PHOENIX - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Doug Coleman today announced that o - n June 9, 2014, John Kweku Eshun, 52, of Ellenwood, Ga., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow to 41 months in prison. Eshun is the 12th and final defendant sentenced in...