FRESNO, CA - Five defendants were charged today in two separate indictments for their involvement in marijuana cultivation operations in Kern County, U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. “These indictments represent the product of an ongoing multi-agency enforcement effort spanning six counties in the Central Valley and intended to stem...

FRESNO, CA - A federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment today charging John Simpson, 56, of Squaw Valley, with cultivating marijuana, Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Anthony D. Williams and United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. According to court records, Simpson received notice in April that...

LOS ANGELES, CA - An investigation by the San Gabriel Valley Safe Streets Task Force resulted in the arrest of 16 of 27 defendants today who face federal narcotics charges for their roles in a methamphetamine distribution network, announced representatives from the agencies who jointly conducted the investigation at a...

LOS ANGELES - A Mexican businessman pleaded guilty today in federal court to conspiring with the owners of a Los Angeles area toy wholesaler to launder thousands of “narco dollars” for drug trafficking organizations in Mexico. Luis Ernesto Flores Rivera, 54, of Guadalajara, Mexico, faces up to 20 years in...

Riverside, CA - The Drug Enforcement Administration today announced that operators of an Inland Empire chain of marijuana stores and others associated with a warehouse where drugs were cultivated for the stores were arrested this morning on federal drug trafficking charges. A six-count indictment returned last week by a federal...

OAKLAND, CA - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Anthony D. Williams and Internal Revenue Service - Criminal (IRS-CI) Special Agent in Charge Scott O’Briant presented more than $1.2 Million to the Hayward Police Department, Southern Alameda County Narcotics Enforcement (SACNET), Livermore Police Department, Vallejo Police Department and the...

FRESNO, CA - Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Anthony D. Williams and United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that a federal grand jury returned a one-count indictment today charging Desidoro Sanchez Solorzano, 34, of Madera; Jose Antonio Sanchez Reyes, 24, of Clovis; Eliodoro Cerato Martinez, 28, of...

FRESNO, CA - United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner and U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Anthony D. Williams announced that a federal grand jury in Fresno returned an indictment today charging Sergio Hector Aguilar, 45, and Oscar Arellano Iniego, 54, both of Bakersfield, of conspiring to distribute...

FRESNO, CA - Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Anthony D. Williams and United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Saul Pacheco Panuco, 31, formerly of Livingston, was sentenced today to three years and 10 months in prison for conspiring to manufacture, to distribute, and to possess with...

FRESNO, CA - Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Anthony D. Williams and United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Alejandro Castellanos, 21, of Oaxaca, Mexico, pleaded guilty today to possessing firearms furthering a marijuana cultivation conspiracy. In pleading guilty to the gun charge, Castellanos acknowledged that he...