LOS ANGELES – With families encouraged to stay at home due to the nationwide health crisis, the Drug Enforcement Administration is asking Americans to keep prescription medications safe and secure until they can properly dispose of them. The Secure Your Meds awareness campaign addresses a vital public safety and health...

PORTLAND, Ore.—The leader of a Salem-area drug distribution network was sentenced on March 11, 2020, to federal prison for his role in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine in and around Salem, Oregon. Isaias Alvarado, 38, a Mexican citizen residing in Salem, was sentenced to 120 months in federal...

SEATTLE – A Bothell, Washington, man is charged in an eight-count complaint for operating an illegal money exchange business involving bitcoin. Kenneth Warren Rhule, 26, made his initial appearance on the criminal complaint in U.S. District Court in Seattle on March 10, 2020. Rhule is charged with conducting an unlicensed...

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration today announced the results of Project Python, a DEA-led multilateral interagency operation encompassing all global investigations and related disruption activities targeting the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG). This announcement marks the successful conclusion of six months of investigative and...

SEATTLE - The head of a drug distribution ring who was convicted at trial of drug and gun crimes was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to15 years in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran. Rhett Irons, 41, of Lynnwood, Washington was convicted on December 12, 2019...

LOS ANGELES -- On Thursday, February 20, 2020, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Riverside Office, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and the Inland Regional Narcotics Enforcement Team (IRNET) conducted a joint operation targeting a local drug trafficking organization. During the course of their investigation the investigators developed information about...

WASHINGTON – A dual U.S.-Mexican citizen had her initial appearance in federal court in the District of Columbia Wednesday on charges related to her alleged involvement in five business entities designated by the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) as providing material support to the international narcotics...

SEATTLE - Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon today announced that the DEA will direct enforcement resources to methamphetamine “transportation hubs” — areas where methamphetamine is often trafficked in bulk and then distributed across the country. While continuing to focus on stopping drugs being smuggled across the border, DEA’s...

LAS VEGAS -- As the nation struggles to deal with the opioid epidemic many on the frontlines, such as law enforcement, are looking for innovative ways to tackle the opioid crisis that killed approximately 72,000 Americans in 2017, which is higher than car crashes and gun deaths. In Clark County...

BOISE, Idaho - Ubaldo Soto-Diaz, an illegal alien from Mexico, but residing in Portersville, California, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin. Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye also ordered Soto-Diaz to pay a $2,000 fine and serve five years of supervised...