DETROIT – The Drug Enforcement Administration urges its DEA-registered practitioners and members of the public to be cautious of telephone calls from criminals posing as DEA or other law enforcement personnel threatening arrest and prosecution for supposed violations of federal drug laws or involvement in drug-trafficking activities. DEA continues to...

DETROIT – In an effort to mitigate vulnerabilities within the commerce stream that threaten the nation’s consumers and to protect national security, Homeland Security officials recently launched its Global Trade Task Force, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations-led multi-agency effort that leverages robust import and export controls...

CINCINNATI – A defendant was sentenced today in the first federally indicted carfentanil prosecution in the country. Phillip Watkins, 34, of Cincinnati, was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 300 months in prison for conspiring to distribute heroin laced with carfentanil and attempting to murder a witness he believed...

DEA’s El Paso Division, which covers West Texas and New Mexico, is issuing this safety bulletin to remind the public not to purchase pills or medications from street dealers. Recently DEA El Paso learned that certain pills, which are being sold on the street and have similar markings to legitimate...

DAYTON, Ohio – The lead defendant in a Southwestern Ohio methamphetamine conspiracy pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court last Friday. Salvador Ramirez (also known as Listo), 24, of West Chester is the final defendant to plead in this case. Timothy J. Plancon, Special Agent in Charge, United States Drug Enforcement...

DETROIT – Two men from California were sentenced this month for their role in a drug conspiracy that resulted in, what was at the time, the third largest fentanyl seizure in the United States, announced United States Attorney Matthew Schneider. Schneider was joined in the announcement by Special Agent in...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – David L. Dobbins, 39, of Urbancrest, Ohio, was sentenced in United States District Court to 240 months in prison for dealing narcotics that resulted in an overdose death. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Timothy J. Plancon, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – DEA Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon today unveiled the Drug Enforcement Administration’s 5,500 square foot Drugs: Costs and Consequences travelling exhibit in Albuquerque with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, where it will be housed for the next several months. The...

Albuquerque, N.M. – Francisco Gallegos-Avena, 37, of Guaymas Sonoro, Mexico, pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to possession with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin. In his plea agreement, Gallegos-Avena admitted he transported approximately 722 grams of heroin in his luggage while traveling through Albuquerque on May...

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – United States Attorney Andrew Birge announced today that Alex Alberto Castro received 42 years in prison for conspiring to distribute heroin and cocaine. A federal jury convicted Castro in October 2018. He was the lead defendant of a 20-plus defendant drug trial. Chief United States District...