ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A U.S. Magistrate Judge sitting in Albuquerque, N.M., found probable cause to support a criminal complaint charging Daniela Cota-Guitimea with a fentanyl trafficking offense. The charge arises from a DEA seizure of approximately 18.144 pounds of fentanyl in Albuquerque on April 16, 2019. Cota-Guitimea was remanded into...

BOISE, Idaho – Jennifer L. Fanopoulos, 41, of Boise, was sentenced yesterday to three years of probation for obtaining controlled substances by fraud. Fanopoulos was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge. Fanopoulos pleaded guilty on Oct. 25, 2018. According to court records, Fanopoulos was employed as a...

PORTLAND, Ore . – Paul Eugene Thomas, 38, of Portland, pleaded guilty on April 10, 2019, to one count of conspiring to manufacture, possess with intent to distribute, distributing marijuana, maintaining drug involved premises and one count of money laundering for his role in a vast conspiracy to traffic marijuana...

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – Marcella Moore, 44, of Lewiston, Idaho, was sentenced to federal prison earlier today for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye sentenced Moore to 54 months in prison followed by three years supervised release. Judge Nye also ordered Moore to pay...

PORTLAND, Ore.—Esteban Guillen Ramirez, 53, of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, was sentenced on April 7, 2019, to one year in federal prison and three years’ supervised release for his role in a complex black market peso exchange money laundering scheme. The scheme was uncovered in 2015 following a lengthy investigation by...

SEATTLE – Three members of an international drug trafficking organization pleaded guilty on March 25, 2019, in U.S. District Court in Seattle to distributing more than a thousand kilograms of marijuana. The defendants admitted in their plea agreements that they used money from conspirators in the Peoples Republic of China...

SPOKANE, Wash. – Dr. James Stein-Sheridan Shelby, 50, of Spokane, pled guilty on March 20, 2019, to conspiring with Timothy James Felch, 36, also of Spokane, to distribute opioid pain medications, hydrocodone and tramadol, without a legitimate medical purpose and outside the usual course of professional practice. Shelby also pleaded...

ALBUQUERQUE , N.M. - Jesus Francisco Fernandez, 59, of Pueblo. Colo., was convicted by a federal jury in Albuquerque last Wednesday of possession with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine. According to court documents and trial testimony, Fernandez was riding a bus through Albuquerque on Oct. 25...

El PASO, Texas – 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...

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...