SAN DIEGO – Federal District Court Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel today sentenced defendant Michael Steen to 148 months in prison for supplying the fentanyl that led to a 33-year-old Ramona woman’s fatal overdose on July 9, 2018. On March 4, 2020, Steen pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Fentanyl, and...

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has developed an e-commerce outreach program aimed at reducing the availability of dangerous, often deadly, counterfeit prescription drugs in the United States. This DEA-led initiative focuses on educating online retailers about the sale of pill presses and components used in the production of...

WASHINGTON – The Drug Enforcement Administration urges its DEA-registered practitioners and members of the public to be cautious of telephone calls by scammers posing as DEA employees attempting to defraud and extort victims. The schemers call the victims, spoofing DEA phone numbers in order to appear legitimate, and threaten arrest...

WASHINGTON – Today, Attorney General William P. Barr joined President Donald J. Trump to announce the expansion of Operation Legend to Chicago and Albuquerque. Operation Legend is a sustained, systematic and coordinated law enforcement initiative in which federal law enforcement agencies work in conjunction with state and local law enforcement...

WASHINGTON – Today, President Donald J. Trump and Attorney General William P. Barr announced significant cases related to Joint Task Force Vulcan (JTFV), an initiative launched in August 2019 aimed at disrupting, dismantling, and ultimately, destroying MS-13. President Trump and Attorney General Barr announced a number of significant cases associated...

NEW YORK – A complaint was unsealed yesterday in the Eastern District of New York charging Bryant Espinoza Aguilar, the stepson of Sinaloa Cartel leader and notorious fugitive Rafael Caro Quintero, with conspiring to commit violations of the Kingpin Act, an economic sanctions program against narcotics traffickers that is administered...

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Department of State today announced new rewards for information that assists in identifying and bringing to justice two Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) leaders who allegedly participated in corrupt and violent narco-terrorism conspiracy with high-ranking Venezuelan officials. Through the...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Coast Guard announced today a significant offload of drugs seized in international waters in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Agents with the DEA and the crew of the USCG Cutter...

NEW YORK – DEA Acting Administrator Timothy J. Shea and United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey S. Berman announced today that Adel El Zabayar was charged in Manhattan federal court with participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy, a cocaine importation conspiracy, and related weapons offenses involving...

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s podcast series, Prevention Profiles: Take Five , has received a Second Place Blue Pencil & Gold Screen Award from the National Association of Government Communicators. Prevention Profiles: Take Five highlights issues related to preventing drug misuse among college students. Each podcast episode is...