ABINGDON, Va. – Joel Smithers, 36, a Martinsville-based doctor, was sentenced Oct. 2, 2019 to 40 years in federal prison and sentenced to pay a special assessment of $86,000, on 861 federal drug charges in U.S. District Court in Abingdon. Smithers was found to have prescribed more than half a...

NORFOLK, Va. – A Virginia Beach dentist was sentenced today to eight and a half years in prison for conspiracy to distribute prescription opioids and muscle relaxant pills without a legitimate medical purpose. According to court documents, Gary Hartman, 48, was involved in an elaborate scheme to prescribe opioids such...

BALTIMORE – A federal jury convicted Paul Alexander, a/k/a David Paul Hayes and "Shorty," age 47, of Hanover, Maryland, on five federal charges including conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, two counts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substances—specifically fentanyl, possession of a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A former pharmacy owner was sentenced today to four years in prison for fraudulently filling and dispensing thousands of prescription medications, including opioids, outside the usual course of professional practice. Latif Mohamed Chowdhury, aka "Gulam Latif Chaudhury," 29, operated and controlled two now-defunct pharmacies known as Alexandria...

NORFOLK, Va. – Barry Jamel Alexander, 33, of Norfolk, was sentenced today to 13 years in prison for conspiring to distribute heroin. Over the last five years, Alexander sold quantities of heroin in excess of two kilograms to customers on multiple occasions. Alexander sold heroin mixed with fentanyl to a...

NORFOLK, Va. – Over 100 law enforcement agents, officers and other personnel executed Operation High Tide this week, resulting in a series of arrests of individuals allegedly involved in selling drugs and guns in Norfolk, Chesapeake and Portsmouth. Operation High Tide is a large-scale narcotics trafficking and firearms investigation that...

HARRISONBURG, Va., – Iza Mar Rosario-Cruzado, 31, of Harrisonburg, Va., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court to one count of distributing and possessing with the intent to distribute a mixture of heroin and fentanyl. Rosario-Cruzado further admitted her distribution of this drug mixture resulted in an overdose death. “This...

GREENBELT, Md. – Gerdandino Delgado-Escobar, a/k/a “Pumba,” age 24, of Hyattsville, Md., a member of La Mara Salvatrucha (“MS-13”), sentenced to 51 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to interfere with interstate commerce by extortion. The sentence was announced by Special Agent in...

GREENBELT, Md. – Today, Jose Augustin Salmeron-Larios (a/k/a Joseph Morales-Martinez, Angel Salvador Gutierrez, Yankee, and Kean), age 26, of Severn, Md., was sentenced to 260 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for a conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise known as La Mara Salvatrucha...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Two Alexandria men, Jose Castro and Martin Vitela, were sentenced today to two and a half years in prison for distribution of heroin and pure methamphetamine. According to court documents, Jose Castro, 23, and Martin Vitela, 25, assisted co-conspirator Fabian Rodriguez Sandoval in the transportation and distribution...