PHOENIX, Ariz. – Dominik Israel Lopez, 24, of Mesa, Arizona, was sentenced on November 24, 2025, by United States District Judge Krissa Lanham to 108 months of prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Lopez pleaded guilty to Distribution of Fentanyl, with death resulting. In March 2020...

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Arizona residents turned in 6,257 pounds of unused medications during DEA’s 28th National Drug Take Back Day on April 26, 2025. Nationwide, 620,000 pounds of unused medications were turned in at nearly 4500 collection sites in effort to prevent drug misuse and abuse. Since its inception 16...

LOS ANGELES – A San Luis Obispo County woman who operated a medical clinic pleaded guilty today to misusing physicians’ medical identities to create hundreds of fraudulent immigration documents to help immigrants obtain lawful status in the United States and for using a deceased doctor’s credentials to acquire and distributed...

PHOENIX, Ariz. – On Oct. 28, 2023, Arizona residents once again emptied their medicine cabinets to help dispose of old, unwanted, and expired medications. In total, DEA Arizona and its law enforcement partners collected 5,414 pounds of unneeded medications at 80 collection sites statewide. Nationwide, DEA and its law enforcement...

PHOENIX – On Oct. 29, 2022, communities across the country demonstrated their continued support for DEA’s bi-annual National Prescription Drug Take Back Day by safely disposing of more than 647,000 pounds of unneeded medications at nearly 5,000 collection sites across the country. Since its inception in 2010, DEA’s National Prescription...

LOS ANGELES – A High Desert physician remains in federal custody today after his arrest Wednesday on charges of illegally dispensing prescriptions for often-abused controlled substances – including opioid-based medications – during telemedicine sessions with “patients” from across the United States. Dr. Raphael Tomas Malikian, 36, who resides in Llano...

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...