LAS CRUCES, N.M. - A federal grand jury in Las Cruces, N.M., yesterday returned an indictment charging Garlan R. Plumlee, 60, Justin E. Thompson, 32, and Phillip Larez, 31, all of Carlsbad, N.M., with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance analogue, distribution of a controlled substance analogue, and possession of...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A federal grand jury has indicted seven residents of Las Cruces, N.M., on conspiracy and prescription drug trafficking charges, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales and Joseph M. Arabit, Special Agent in Charge of the El Paso Field Division of the Drug Enforcement (DEA). Michael Garret Schavier...

JUNEAU, Alaska - Travell Demar Pinkston, 42 of Sacramento, California, was sentenced on December 12, 2012, in federal court for his role in a conspiracy to distribute and to possess with the intent to distribute oxycodone. Pinkston was sentenced to 42 months in prison and three years of supervised release...

BOISE, Idaho - Rolondo F. Gonzalez, 57, of Caldwell, Idaho, was sentenced in United States District Court on December 12, 2012, to ten years in prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and distributing methamphetamine. Gonzalez was convicted after a jury trial on August 22, 2012. During the two-day trial, the...

YAKIMA, Wash. - Luis Alberto Oregon-Sanchez, 25, of Yakima, Washington, was sentenced December 6, 2012, for manufacturing more than 100 marijuana plants, a crime to which he had previously pleaded guilty. Senior United States District Judge Fred Van Sickle imposed a five year term of imprisonment to be followed by...

SEATTLE - A Burien woman was sentenced December 6, 2012, in U.S. District Court in Seattle, to five years in prison and five years of supervised release for four felony counts connected to the laundering of illegal proceeds from the drug distribution conspiracy she participated in with her husband. Svetlana...

EL PASO, Texas - The Drug Enforcement (DEA) today announced the results of “Project Below the Beltway”, a two-year series of investigations targeting the Sinaloa and Juarez Cartels and associated violent street gangs as part of on-going strategy against the cartels and their distribution networks in the United States. The...

COEUR d’ALENE, Idaho - Janette Marie Baucum, 59, of Scio, Oregon, pleaded guilty on December 4, 2012, in United States District Court in Coeur d’Alene to conspiracy to structure financial transactions. According to statements made in court, in September 2007, Baucum and her husband, co-defendant Robert Baucum, used proceeds of...

TACOMA, Wash. - A Thurston County resident who shipped packages of methamphetamine and heroin to a small town in Alaska was sentenced to 20 years in prison on November 30, 2012. Robert Dean Grimes, 52, was arrested on October 14, 2011, when he returned to Washington State from Alaska. Grimes...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - - Earlier today, Charles Padilla, 44, of Albuquerque, N.M., made his initial appearance in federal court on a criminal complaint charging him with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. Padilla is temporarily detained pending a preliminary hearing and a detention hearing, both of which are scheduled...