SAN ANTONIO - A former major drug trafficker in the Piedras Negras “Plaza,” 46-year-old Esiquiel (aka “Cheke”), was sentenced in San Antonio today to 420 months in federal prison for federal drug and firearm violations announced DEA Special Agent in Charge Joseph M. Arabit, Acting United States Attorney Richard Durbin...

DEL RIO, Texas - In Del Rio yesterday, 45-year old Texas Mexican (TMM) member Jesus Meza, Jr. (aka “Jesse”) was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment followed by five years of supervised release for violating federal racketeering and drug trafficking statutes announced Acting United States Attorney Richard L. Durbin, Jr., Federal...

NORFOLK, Va. - German Alvarado Ponce, aka Herman Alvaniz, 37, of Chesapeake, Virginia, was sentenced today to 240 months in prison, followed by five of supervised release on a drug conspiracy charge. Ponce and five co-defendants were indicted Dec. 17, 2014, and have all pleaded guilty. According to court documents...

BALTIMORE - A federal grand jury has returned three indictments charging a total of 16 individuals with drug conspiracy and other charges for operating purported pain management clinics that the indictments allege were actually “pill mills.” The indictments were returned on May 20, 2015, and unsealed late yesterday upon the...

LAREDO, Texas - A total of five Laredoans have been ordered to prison for their roles in a kidnaping ordered by Los Zetas and executed by members and associates of the gang Hermanos Pistoleros (HPL), announced Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Joseph M. Arabit, Houston Division and U.S...

GREENBELT, Md. - U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang sentenced Christian Diamond Byrd, age 44, of Laurel, Maryland today to 15 years in prison followed by four years of supervised release for distribution of heroin. Judge Chuang also ordered Byrd to forfeit $440,000, the proceeds of his drug distribution. The sentence...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Four people have been charged for their involvement in a drug and money laundering conspiracy, three of whom have also been designated as Specially Designated Narcotics (SDNTs), announced Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Joseph M. Arabit, Houston Division and United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson. The...

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets (OFAC) today has designated Mexican narcotics trafficker Abel Briones Ruiz as a Specially Designated Narcotics (SDNT) pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation (“Kingpin Act”) for providing support for the international narcotics trafficking activities of the Gulf Cartel...

NORFOLK, Va. - Allen Andre Brown, 36, of Portsmouth, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to distribute narcotics. Karl C. Colder, Special Agent in Charge for Drug Enforcement Administration’(DEA) Washington Office; Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Mark R. Herring, Attorney General of Virginia...

McALLEN, Texas - A federal grand jury has returned a two-count indictment against a Rio Grande City Police Department investigator and a second defendant in a conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, announced Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Joseph M. Arabit, Houston Division and U.S. Attorney...