JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced the return of an indictment charging Scott Andrew Hollington, M.D. (57, St. Augustine) with 10 counts of distribution of controlled substances and one (1) count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. If convicted, Hollington faces a maximum penalty of 20...

TAMPA, Fla. – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced that Hector Enrique Veliz Villeda (30, Hialeah) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine. Veliz Villeda faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years, and up to life, in federal prison. A sentencing date has...

TAMPA , Fla. – U.S. District Judges Thomas Barber and Virginia Covington sentenced Marvin “MJ” Mitchell (36, St. Petersburg) to 15 years in federal prison, Christopher Hughes (44, Clearwater) to 8 years in federal prison, and Emma Leifer (26, Clearwater) to 6 years and 6 months in federal prison for...

ORLANDO, Fla . – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced that a federal jury has found Juan Carlos Garcia (39, Apopka) guilty of conspiracy and possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute it. Garcia faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for...

FORT MYERS, F l a . – U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber sentenced Shauntavus Berklin (34, Fort Myers) to 15 years in federal prison for possessing firearms as a convicted felon and distributing fentanyl. The court also ordered Berklin to forfeit the firearms he illegally had possessed. Berklin had...

TAMPA, Fla. – U.S. District Judge Mary S. Scriven sentenced Virginia Garcia Moreta (35, Tampa) and Hector Rodriguez Mendez (47, Tampa) to 70 and 63 months in federal prison, respectively, for conspiring to commit money laundering. As part of their sentences, the court also entered an order of forfeiture in...

El Paso - The Barrio Azteca gunmen directly responsible for the March 2010 murders in Juarez, Mexico of a U.S. Consulate employee, her husband, and the husband of another U.S. Consulate employee were sentenced to life in prison today. “The gunmen who viciously shot and killed Leslie Enriquez, Arthur Redelfs...

OCALA , Fla . – U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton, Jr. sentenced Tymane D. Hamilton (30, Phoenix, Arizona) to 16 years and 8 months in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. Hamilton had pleaded guilty on April 19, 2022. According to court documents and evidence presented in...

MIAMI – A South Florida fentanyl dealer whose product killed a man was sentenced this week to 20 years in federal prison for the distribution of a controlled substance. On April 15, 2021, Donte McCray met with another man at a 7-11 convenience store in Lake Worth, Fla., with the...

WASHINGTON – A federal court issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting a Tampa-area clinic, its operators and a doctor from administering, dispensing or distributing any controlled substances, including issuing prescriptions for opioids, the Department of Justice announced. In a complaint filed on Oct. 11 and unsealed Oct. 14, the United...