TAMPA , Fla . – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced the unsealing of an indictment charging Arnulfo Rodriguez-Munoz, (41, Fort Worth, TX), Enrique Velasquez (43, Dallas, TX), Heriberto Castillo, (44, Denton, TX), and David Ceballos (27, Alvarado, TX) with conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to...

SPOKANE, Wash – On Thursday, Scott Banchero, age 58, of Kirkland, Washington, was charged by federal criminal complaint with Possession with Intent to Distribute 500 Grams or More of a Mixture or Substance Containing a Detectable Amount of Methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A)(viii), according to Vanessa R...

BOISE, Idaho - A Wilder, Idaho man was sentenced to 124 months in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl. According to court records, James Donavan Conour, 44, of Wilder, sold another person one pound of methamphetamine in exchange for $3,000 on January 21...

SPOKANE, Wash. – Vanessa R. Waldref, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced today that Esther Rae Tuller, age 41, of Moses Lake, Washington, was sentenced today in federal court in Spokane for tampering with morphine medication while working as a registered nurse. Chief United States...

WASHINGTON – A federal court issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting a Tampa-area physician from prescribing opioids and other controlled substances, the Department of Justice announced today. In a complaint filed on July 18, and unsealed yesterday, the United States alleges that Dr. Neelam Taneja Uppal unlawfully wrote opioid prescriptions...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Former Gadsden County Sheriff’s Office deputy Joseph Barnes, Jr., 54, of Chattahoochee, Florida, was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of giving a false statement to a federal officer. The sentenced was announced by Jason R. Coody, United States Attorney...

WASHINGTON – A federal court ordered a Tampa-area pain management clinic to close and directed the clinic’s owners and its former physician to collectively pay $600,000 in civil penalties pursuant to agreed resolutions in a case alleging violations of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the Justice Department announced today. In...

POCATELLO, Idaho – Melvin Misael Alcaraz-Valdez, of Declo, Idaho, was sentenced to federal prison for possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, announced U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit, today. Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye sentenced Alcaraz-Valdez to 135 months. 11 years, 3 months. Alcaraz-Valdez, upon completion of his time...

SEATTLE – A top leader of a violent international drug trafficking organization that distributed heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine in the Puget Sound region, pleaded guilty this week in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Luis Arturo Magana-Ramirez, 34, of Fife, Washington, faces a mandatory minimum ten years in prison and up...

MIAMI - Today, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Miami Field Division has issued a Public Safety Alert to warn Florida communities of the increase of mass-overdose events across the state suspected to be related to drug supplies laced with a synthetic opioid. While law enforcement agencies continue to investigate these...