WASHINGTON – The Benevolent Protective Order of the Elks’ Drug Awareness Program (DAP) in partnership with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) released Season 4 of the video podcast Awkward Conversations on August 7, 2024, on the DAP YouTube channel . Season 4 of Awkward Conversations will include 20 unscripted...

EL PASO, Texas – An El Paso man was sentenced in federal court to 15 years in prison for distribution of fentanyl, causing death. According to court documents, Michael Joseph Cuccaro, 22, sold counterfeit M-30 oxycodone pills containing fentanyl to a purchaser on Dec. 11, 2022. The purchaser consumed the...

MIDLAND, Texas – A Midland man was sentenced in a federal court in Midland to 20 years in prison for his role in a fatal fentanyl trafficking conspiracy. According to court documents, William Jake Childers, 39, trafficked counterfeit M-30 Oxycodone pills containing fentanyl that led to the deaths of two...

EL PASO, Texas – A San Antonio man was sentenced in a federal court in El Paso to 132 months in prison for distributing fentanyl-laced pills through the mail, leading to the death of an El Paso woman. According to court documents, Brennan Dane Short, 49, sold counterfeit M-30 pills...

EL PASO, Texas – Two El Paso women have been sentenced in a federal court in El Paso prison for their roles in the fentanyl poisoning death of a 19-year-old single mother. According to court documents, Kathy Lee Nicole Bradford, 32, coordinated the sale of M-30 pills to a woman...

ALBUQUERQUE – A California man was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison for attempting to transport over 2 kilograms of heroin by train from Bernalillo County to North Carolina. There is no parole in the federal system. According to court documents, on February 26, 2021, Mario A. Serna was...

Washington - The Justice Department today announced a 10-count superseding indictment charging Los Angeles-based associates of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel with conspiring with money-laundering groups linked to Chinese underground banking to launder drug trafficking proceeds. During the conspiracy, more than $50 million in drug proceeds flowed between the Sinaloa Cartel...

ALBUQUERQUE – An Albuquerque man was convicted by a federal jury, after less than 30 minutes of deliberation, of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, between...

El Paso, Texas – DEA and its local law enforcement partners collected 670,136 pounds of unused medications during the 26th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on April 27, 2024. The El Paso Division collected 2,086 pounds in West Texas and 4,622 pounds in New Mexico. “Once again, the communities...

WASHINGTON – DEA and its local law enforcement partners collected 670,136 of unused medications during the 26th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on April 27, 2024. This is an increase from the more than 663,000 pounds collected in April 2023. In its 15th year of the program, DEA partnered...