WASHINGTON – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has developed an e-commerce outreach program aimed at reducing the availability of dangerous, often deadly, counterfeit prescription drugs in the United States. This DEA-led initiative focuses on educating online retailers about the sale of pill presses and components used in the production of...

SEATTLE - Fifteen people were arrested today throughout the Puget Sound region and in California following an 18-month investigation of a drug trafficking organization tied to the CJNG cartel in Mexico. Defendants arrested today made their initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Seattle. The South Sound Streets are safer...

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho - Larry Junior Hillbroom, 36, Morgan Kenney, 34, and Sean RoberWathen, 48, all of Hope, Idaho, were arrested on July 15, 2020, on federal charges of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced today. The charge stem from a June 16, 2020 indictment filed...

SPOKANE, Wash. - Randall Curtis Gross, 27, of Grand Coulee, Washington, was sentenced on June 16, 2020, after having pleaded guilty on February 11, 2020, to conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine as well as heroin. Senior District Court Judge Wm. Fremming Nielsen sentenced Gross to a...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Special Agent in Charge Keith Martin, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Detroit Field Division and Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) Mauricio Jimenez, Columbus Division Office, announced Central Ohio will become the 17th site where the DEA will implement its comprehensive Operation 360 initiative to address prescription misuse...

SEATTLE - Two Bellingham, Washington, residents made their initial appearance today in U.S. District Court in Seattle following their arrest on May 28, 2020, for distributing fake oxycodone tablets tainted with fentanyl. Troy J. Klander, 38, and Zachary D. Salas, 38, are charged with conspiracy to possess fentanyl with intent...

PORTLAND, Ore.—Omnicare Inc., a subsidiary of CVS Health and a provider of pharmacy services to long-term care facilities, has agreed to pay the United States a $15.3 million civil penalty to resolve allegations that it violated federal law by, among other things, allowing opioids and other controlled substances to be...

PORTLAND, Ore.—The leader of a Salem-area drug distribution network was sentenced on March 11, 2020, to federal prison for his role in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine in and around Salem, Oregon. Isaias Alvarado, 38, a Mexican citizen residing in Salem, was sentenced to 120 months in federal...

SEATTLE – A Bothell, Washington, man is charged in an eight-count complaint for operating an illegal money exchange business involving bitcoin. Kenneth Warren Rhule, 26, made his initial appearance on the criminal complaint in U.S. District Court in Seattle on March 10, 2020. Rhule is charged with conducting an unlicensed...

SEATTLE - The head of a drug distribution ring who was convicted at trial of drug and gun crimes was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to15 years in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran. Rhett Irons, 41, of Lynnwood, Washington was convicted on December 12, 2019...