SAN DIEGO – Egisto Salerno, a medical doctor practicing in San Diego, pleaded guilty to opioid distribution in federal court today, admitting that he signed bogus prescriptions for multiple deceased or incarcerated patients. According to his plea agreement, Salerno, 75, illegally distributed 78,544 hydrocodone pills. Hydrocodone is an opioid pain...

WASHINGTON – Last week, DEA Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon visited Beijing, China. Acting Administrator Dhillon met with Chinese officials from the General Administration of Customs, the National Narcotics Laboratory, and the National Narcotics Control Commission, including Vice Commissioner Liu Yuejin. As a welcome to China, the Ministry of Public Security...

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration today released Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse Among College Students. This new publication provides a road map for college and university-based prevention professionals to address campus-wide drug misuse issues. “With vaping, marijuana use, and the abuse of...

SAN DIEGO – Orlando Balderas Guerrero, of Menifee, Calif., was sentenced in federal court today to 10 years in custody for participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. According to his plea agreement, Guerrero admitted that for a one-year period, he obtained bulk methamphetamine from a broker in Mexico and...

SAN DIEGO – April Spring Kelly, of San Diego, was sentenced in federal court on Friday to 14 years in prison for conspiring to smuggle more than 450,000 fentanyl pills from Mexico into the United States during a nine-month period ending in October 2018. According to admissions in her plea...

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced the seizure of 44 website domains offering to sell illicit vaping cartridges containing THC and other adulterated substances. This enforcement effort – part of Operation Vapor Lock – is a result of DEA’s continued...

SAN DIEGO – The DEA and U.S. Coast Guard announced today a significant offload of drugs seized in international waters in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Agents with the DEA and the crew of the USCG Cutter Bertholf offloaded 18,000 pounds of cocaine – worth an estimated $312 million – at...

DETROIT – Today, Attorney General William P. Barr announced the launch of Operation Relentless Pursuit, an initiative aimed at combating violent crime in seven of America’s most violent cities through a surge in federal resources. Joined at a press conference in Detroit by DEA Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon, ATF Acting...

CINCINNATI – A federal grand jury has charged 36 individuals with crimes related to narcotics and money laundering conspiracies in an indictment that was unsealed today. Those charged include 22 local individuals. Law enforcement agents arrested all 36 defendants late last week and over the weekend. According to the indictment...

SAN DIEGO – The Drug Enforcement Administration is alerting the public of dangerous counterfeit pills killing Americans. Mexican drug cartels are manufacturing mass quantities of counterfeit prescription pills containing fentanyl, a dangerous synthetic opioid that is lethal in minute doses, for distribution throughout North America. Based on a sampling of...