SPOKANE, Wash. - On December 13, 2017, the Drug Enforcement (DEA) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and (ATF) led a large scale enforcement action targeting a criminal organization distributing methamphetamine in the Eastern District of Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Hundreds of law enforcement officials, including federal agents and state...

BOISE, Idaho - Dr. Rafael Beier, 63, of Kingston, Idaho, was sentenced on November 30, 2017, to 192 months in federal prison followed by 10 years of supervised release for unlawfully distributing oxycodone and hydrocodone. Senior U.S.District Judge Edward J. Lodge also ordered Beier to pay a $63,000 fine and...

SEATTLE - Former Seattle police officer pleaded guilty today for his role in the smuggling of hundreds of pounds of marijuana from the Seattle area to Baltimore, Maryland. Alex Chapackdee, 44, of Seattle, was a 16-year veteran of the Seattle Police (SPD), who resigned shortly after his arrest in May...

MEDFORD, Ore. - On Thursday, November 16, 2017, United States District Judge Michael J. McShane sentenced Brian Keith Sunkenberg, 53, to 45 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to endangering human life by manufacturing marijuana in the form of hash oil. Judge McShane ordered Sunkenberg to pay $27,671 in...

EL PASO - Americans nationwide did their part to reduce the opioid crisis by bringing the DEA and its more than 4,200 local and tribal law enforcement partners a record-setting 912,305 pounds-456 tons-of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs for disposal at more than 5,300 collection sites. That...

ROSWELL, N.M. - In spring 2017, federal, state and local agencies joined forces to disrupt and dismantle a criminal organization that allegedly was trafficking large quantities of methamphetamine and numerous firearms in southeastern New Mexico. Acting U.S. Attorney James D. Tierney, Acting Special Agent in Charge Steve Borak of the...

September 29 , 2017 Contact: Public Information Officer Number: 206-553-1162 @DEASeattleDiv BEND, Ore) - On Wednesday, September 27, 2017, a joint operation involving the DEA, FBI, and Central Oregon Drug (CODE) Team resulted in the federal arrest of nine people charged with participation in a drug distribution network operating in...

EL PASO - This afternoon, U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne T. Berton ordered 36 year-old Martin Arody Sanchez Aguirre held without bond pending trial on federal drug trafficking charges. Sanchez Aguirre is one of five individuals indicted earlier this month for trafficking in cocaine and heroin throughout the El Paso area...

September 13 , 2017 Contact: Public Information Officer Number: 206-553-1162 @DEASeattleDiv ANCHORAGE - On September 12, 2017, a federal grand jury in Anchorage returned a series of indictments charging individuals with fentanyl trafficking and other criminal offenses. Fentanyl, sometimes known on the street as “Grey Death,” is a powerful opioid...

EL PASO, Texas - Seven residents of Lea County, New Mexico, including four Mexican nationals, and a resident of Yuma, Arizona, are facing federal narcotics trafficking and money laundering charges alleging that they imported methamphetamine and cocaine into Lea County from Mexico through Arizona. The charges are the result of...