PORTLAND, Ore.—Esteban Guillen Ramirez, 53, of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, was sentenced on April 7, 2019, to one year in federal prison and three years’ supervised release for his role in a complex black market peso exchange money laundering scheme. The scheme was uncovered in 2015 following a lengthy investigation by...

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – Marcella Moore, 44, of Lewiston, Idaho, was sentenced to federal prison earlier today for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye sentenced Moore to 54 months in prison followed by three years supervised release. Judge Nye also ordered Moore to pay...

SEATTLE – Three members of an international drug trafficking organization pleaded guilty on March 25, 2019, in U.S. District Court in Seattle to distributing more than a thousand kilograms of marijuana. The defendants admitted in their plea agreements that they used money from conspirators in the Peoples Republic of China...

SPOKANE, Wash. – Dr. James Stein-Sheridan Shelby, 50, of Spokane, pled guilty on March 20, 2019, to conspiring with Timothy James Felch, 36, also of Spokane, to distribute opioid pain medications, hydrocodone and tramadol, without a legitimate medical purpose and outside the usual course of professional practice. Shelby also pleaded...

HONOLULU – The United States Drug Enforcement Administration in Honolulu urges its DEA-registered practitioners to be cautious of telephone calls from criminals posing as DEA agents or other law enforcement personnel demanding the practitioner provide their DEA-registrant number and other practitioner-related sensitive information over the telephone. Most recently, the DEA...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Dorothy Elizabeth Lantz, 37, of Anchorage, Alaska, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Ralph R. Beistline, to serve 40 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, after previously pleading guilty to three counts of distribution of a controlled substance. The court deferred ruling...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Andrew Madison Straley III, 50, of Dillingham, Alaska, was named in the indictment charging him with possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance. Straley is currently awaiting a court appearance before a U.S. Magistrate Judge on the federal charge. According to the criminal complaint, on...

SPOKANE, Wash. - Jese Carillo Casillas, age 33, based out of Kennewick, Wash., was sentenced on Dec. 13, 2018, to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine, as well as conspiracy to launder money. Senior United States District Judge Edward F. Shea sentenced Casillas to a 25-year term of...

SANTA ANA, Calif. – Special Agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration this morning arrested an Orange County doctor on federal charges that allege he illegally distributed opioid and other powerful narcotics by writing prescriptions for “patients” without medical examinations and to at least five individuals who suffered overdose deaths. One...

LOS ANGELES – As the greater Los Angeles area continues to be hamstrung by an opioid epidemic that has seen approximately 500 overdose deaths this year, the DEA in Los Angeles has announced a new comprehensive opioid strategy. At a press conference on Dec. 18, 2018, the DEA in Los...