BALTIMORE - Eighteen defendants alleged to be part of a large drug trafficking organization operating in Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, Maryland; New Jersey; and California, have been charged in connection with distributing large amounts of marijuana, diverted pharmaceuticals, steroids, cocaine and other controlled substances. Approximately 250 law enforcement agents...

GREENBELT - , Md. - U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. sentenced Luis Alberto Jimenez, 33, formerly of Hyattsville, Maryland, today to 10 months incarceration, with five months of that being home detention with electronic monitoring, followed by two years of supervised release, for selling misbranded, non-FDA approved prescription and...

ODESSA, Texas - Today in Midland, 68-year-old Jimmy Wayne Wright, former owner of B&L Bookstore in Odessa, was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute Methylenedioxypyrovalerone, or more commonly referred to as “bath salts,” announced United States Attorney Robert Pitman and...

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...

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...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Mauricio Santoyo Velasco, 53, ofColombia, was sentenced today to 13 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiring to provide material support and resources to the United Self-Defense Forces of (AUC), a designated foreign terrorist organization. Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for...

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...

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...

EL PASO, Texas - In El Paso this afternoon, former El Paso County Precinct 3 Commissioner Guillermo “Willie” Gandara, Jr., 37, of El Paso, was sentenced to 78 months imprisonment on federal drug trafficking and money laundering charges announced Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Joseph M. Arabit, U.S...

BALTIMORE - U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced David Barnes, 32, of Hagerstown, Maryland, today to 15 years in prison followed by four years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine (crack cocaine) and cocaine, and possession with intent to distribute cocaine...