WASHINGTON - The National Heroin Threat Assessment (NHTA), released today by the United States Drug Enforcement (DEA), shows heroin use and availability on the rise and causing more overdose deaths than at any time in the last decade. Although fewer people presently use heroin than other illicit drugs, the heroin...

WASHINGTON - DEA Special Agent Joseph Piersante today became the first-ever member of DEA to receive the Secretary of Defense Medal for the Defense of Freedom - . Piersante was struck by enemy gun fire while on a counter-terrorism and narcotics mission in Afghanistan in 2011. The Defense of Freedom...

GULFPORT, Miss. - Rasheed Ali Muhammad, 42, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, was sentenced to a total of 1,440 months in federal (240 months on each of six counts) followed by three years of supervised release for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and possessing with intent to distribute bath (methylone...

FORT SMITH, Ark. - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Assistant Special Agent in Charge David Downing and Conner Eldridge, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced that Fernando Canales-Mendoza, 52, a Mexican citizen living in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, was sentenced today to 120 months in prison followed by five...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - A mother and son were sentenced in federal court yesterday after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, announced Clay Morris, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement (DEA) and George L. Beck, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama. Modesto Barajas De...

NEW ORLEANS - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Keith Brown and U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that Leonid Djuga, a/k/a “Leonid Dzhuga,” age 37, of Reseda, California, pleaded guilty today, to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with the intent to distribute 500 grams...

NEW ORLEANS - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Keith Brown and U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced the return of a Superseding Indictment charging Houston Police Officer Noe Juarez, 46, and Mexican citizen Sergio Grimaldo, 32, with conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine hydrochloride. Juarez...

LAFAYETTE, La. - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Assistant Special Agent in Charge Joseph W. Shepherd and United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that a Carencro Police officer pleaded guilty to receiving cash payments from James Panos, former owner and manager of Desperado’s Cabaret, while the officer was in charge...

NEW ORLEANS - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Keith Brown and U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that Joseph J. Mogan, III, M.D., age 48, formerly of New Orleans, and Tiffany Miller, age 43, of Metairie, were sentenced yesterday for conspiring to dispense prescription drugs illegally through “pill...

WASHINGTON - The United States Drug Enforcement (DEA) today issued a nationwide alert about the dangers of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues/compounds. Fentanyl is commonly laced in heroin, causing significant problems across the country, particularly as heroin abuse has increased. This alert was issued through the multi-agency El Paso Intelligence (EPIC)...