SPOKANE, Wash. – Vanessa R. Waldref, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced today that Esther Rae Tuller, age 41, of Moses Lake, Washington, was sentenced today in federal court in Spokane for tampering with morphine medication while working as a registered nurse. Chief United States...

POCATELLO, Idaho – Melvin Misael Alcaraz-Valdez, of Declo, Idaho, was sentenced to federal prison for possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, announced U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit, today. Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye sentenced Alcaraz-Valdez to 135 months. 11 years, 3 months. Alcaraz-Valdez, upon completion of his time...

SEATTLE – A top leader of a violent international drug trafficking organization that distributed heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine in the Puget Sound region, pleaded guilty this week in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Luis Arturo Magana-Ramirez, 34, of Fife, Washington, faces a mandatory minimum ten years in prison and up...

LOS ANGELES – Two Arizona men face federal charges after the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Los Angeles Field Division’s Enforcement Group 2, in coordination with the Burbank Police Department, seized 100,000 fake oxycodone pills. A criminal complaint filed in federal court alleges that, in the early morning hours of...

LOS ANGELES - The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Los Angeles Field Division High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Group 48, seized approximately 1 million fake pills containing fentanyl in Inglewood, Calif. earlier this month. This record-breaking bust is the largest seizure of fentanyl pills DEA has made in California...

PORTLAND, Ore.—A former Clackamas, Oregon dentist pleaded guilty today to illegally distributing controlled substances, including prescription drugs, and anabolic steroids. Salwan Wesam Adjaj, 43, a resident of West Linn, Oregon, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a one-count information charging him with distributing and possessing with intent to distribute controlled...

MEDFORD, Ore.—A Josephine County, Oregon man who distributed marijuana throughout the U.S. using his private airplane, and who hired a hitman to kill a drug trafficking associate, was sentenced to federal prison today. John Tobe Larson, 71, was sentenced to 35 months in federal prison and five years of supervised...

BOISE, Idaho – On Friday, July 1, 2022, Dakota James Hoffman, 29, of Bellevue, Idaho, was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison for distribution of fentanyl, U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit announced. According to court records, Hoffman distributed oxycodone pills to a man with the initials A.K. who overdosed on...

SEATTLE – The Arlington, Washington based leader of a prolific and violent drug trafficking ring pleaded guilty this week to federal drug, gun, and money laundering crimes, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Cesar Valdez-Sanudo, 36, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and carrying...

TACOMA, Wash. – Multiple members of a methamphetamine trafficking ring were indicted last week in U.S. District Court for seven federal felonies related to their drug trafficking, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Some of the conspirators, have been charged in state court over the last ten years, but fled the...