EL PASO – A Mexican national was sentenced today to life in prison for his role in the Sinaloa Cartel’s narcotics distribution operations. According to court documents, Arturo Shows Urquidi, aka “Chous,” 50, of Juarez, was a former Chihuahua State police officer and a long-time member of the Sinaloa Cartel...

EL PASO – The Drug Enforcement Administration’s El Paso Division has a new Special Agent in Charge (SAC). On Friday Feb. 18, 2022, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram named Greg Millard as the new SAC of the El Paso Division, which serves New Mexico and West Texas. Millard came to El...

PECOS – Yesterday, a New Mexico man was sentenced to 240 months in prison for importing and possessing methamphetamine and 60 months in prison for a firearm charge. According to court documents, Jarod Richard Melancon, 38, was arrested on May 5, 2021, after a federal search warrant was executed on...

EL PASO – On February 23, a Mexican national was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in a large marijuana conspiracy. According to court documents, Victor Gerardo Villegas, aka Victor Gerardo Villegas-Villalva, Gera, 34, of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, was a member of the Gente Nueva de...

OCALA , Fla . – Jeffrey Walt Boston (45, Orlando) pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and possessing with the intent to distribute a mixture and substance containing cocaine. Boston faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet...

TAMPA, Fla – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced that a federal jury has found Damian Sierra (43, Port St. Lucie) guilty of possessing 500 grams or more of cocaine with the intent to distribute it. Sierra faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 5 years, and up to 40...

OCALA, Fla. –Tralvaster Epps (34, Ocala) was sentenced to 10 years and 2 months in federal prison for possessing with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine, and marijuana and for possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense. Epps had pleaded guilty on November 18, 2021. According...

ORLANDO, Fla. – U.S. District Judges Paul G. Byron and Carlos E. Mendoza have sentenced 11 members of an Osceola County-based drug trafficking organization (DTO) to federal prison sentences ranging between 15 and 300 months for a conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute heroin. One individual was also...

MIAMI – This week, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced a new initiative, Operation Overdrive, aimed at combatting the rising rates of drug-related violent crime and overdose deaths plaguing American communities. Last fall, DEA initiated a data-driven approach using national crime statistics and CDC data to identify hot spots of drug-related...

ORLANDO, Fla. –Jesus Manuel Rodriguez-Castillo (39, Kissimmee) was sentenced to eight years and four months in federal prison for distributing fentanyl-laced heroin. Rodriguez-Castillo had pleaded guilty on October 5, 2021. According to court documents, Rodriguez-Castillo sold approximately 290 grams of fentanyl-laced heroin to a cooperating source and an undercover DEA...