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...

SAN DIEGO - This morning, the Drug Enforcement (DEA) San Diego Field Division’s Narcotics Task (NTF) along with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and Health Advocates Rejecting Marijuana, (HARM) announce the total amount of illegal marijuana plants seized in San Diego County in 2012. During calendar year 2012, NTF...

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...

SAN DIEGO - In summer of 2010, the Drug Enforcement Administration’(DEA) Narcotics Task (NTF) Team 9 was conducting routine aerial surveillance when they happened to spot a remote marijuana farm in Julian. Agents cut down the massive crop with machetes, arrested four crop tenders and found lots of items left...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Nine individuals, who allegedly participated in a Deming, N.M., based conspiracy to distribute large quantities of methamphetamine, have been charged with narcotics trafficking offenses in a federal indictment that was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico in Las Cruces. The indictment...

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Special Agent in Charge, Joseph Arabit, Drug Enforcement Administration-El Paso Division, and United States Attorney Robert Pitman announced that in Las Cruces, NM, today, United States District Judge Robert C. Brack sentenced four defendants to federal prison for their roles in a firearms trafficking operation. Judge...

SAN DIEGO & IMPERIAL, Calif. - The final tally is in from the 5th National Prescription Take-Back Day this past Saturday, September 29, 2012. DEA and its partners took back prescription drugs at 38 locations in San Diego County and three locations in Imperial County. Over the course of four...

LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- - Twenty individuals, who allegedly participated in conspiracies to distribute marijuana and cocaine from Mexico in New Mexico, Colorado, Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and Tennessee, and to launder drug proceeds, are charged with drug trafficking and money laundering charges in two federal indictments that were unsealed...

SAN DIEGO, CA - Forty six people are in custody following Operation Cruel Summer in the Fallbrook area of San Diego County, 34 of those including a juvenile were arrested in today's sweep. Today's sweep was conducted from 6:00 a.m. to noon. The Drug Enforcement (DEA) Violent Trafficker Team, (VTT)...

SAN DIEGO, CA - Eduardo Arellano-Felix, 55, one of the alleged members of the Arellano-Felix (AFO), was extradited today by the government of Mexico to the United States to face racketeering, money laundering, and narcotics trafficking charges in the Southern District of California. The extradition was announced by Acting Special...