FORT MYERS, F l a . – U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber sentenced Shauntavus Berklin (34, Fort Myers) to 15 years in federal prison for possessing firearms as a convicted felon and distributing fentanyl. The court also ordered Berklin to forfeit the firearms he illegally had possessed. Berklin had...

TAMPA, Fla. – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced that Hector Enrique Veliz Villeda (30, Hialeah) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine. Veliz Villeda faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years, and up to life, in federal prison. A sentencing date has...

TAMPA, Fla. – U.S. District Judge Mary S. Scriven sentenced Virginia Garcia Moreta (35, Tampa) and Hector Rodriguez Mendez (47, Tampa) to 70 and 63 months in federal prison, respectively, for conspiring to commit money laundering. As part of their sentences, the court also entered an order of forfeiture in...

EUGENE, Ore.--Two California men have been sentenced to federal prison for trafficking large quantities of methamphetamine and heroin from California to Oregon. Jack Scott Lewis, 36, of Los Angeles, was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison and five years’ supervised release. Previously, on June 6, 2022, Lewis’s accomplice, Michael...

SEATTLE, Wash. – The Drug Enforcement Administration will host its 23rd National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, October 29, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This event offers anonymous disposal of unneeded medications at more than 4,000 local drop-off locations nationwide. For more than a decade, DEA’s National...

SEATTLE – Three significant drug trafficking groups responsible for trafficking more than 1,000 pounds of methamphetamine and hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills are facing federal charges tonight. Federal investigators and local law enforcement partners seized two RVs packed with meth and fake pills after they were driven from California...

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – Antoinne James Holmes, 23, of Cusick, Washington, was sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison for distribution of fentanyl resulting in serious bodily injury and death. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill sentenced Holmes to 151 months in prison and ordered that he pay...

BOISE, Idaho– Steven John Gallardo, 43, of Boise, Idaho was sentenced to 92 months in federal prison for distributing large quantities of methamphetamine. According to court records, between March and July 2021, Gallardo was involved in the distribution of large quantities of methamphetamine in the Boise area. On three occasions...

Spokane, Washington – United States District Judge Thomas O. Rice sentenced Guillermo Valdez, age 34, of Moses Lake, Washington, to 204 months in federal prison after Valdez had pleaded guilty on April 20, 2022 to two counts of Possession with Intent to Distribute 500 or More Grams of Methamphetamine and...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – With the sentencing of the last of 16 defendants, federal prosecutors concluded prosecution of a large-scale methamphetamine trafficking organization operating primarily within Franklin and Gulf Counties. The convictions and sentences were announced by Jason R. Coody, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida. “Cooperative and...