TAMPA , F la. – U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber has sentenced Debora Ryder (56, New Port Richey) to three years in federal prison for drug conspiracy . Ryder entered a guilty plea on September 19, 2023. She has also agreed to forfeit her nursing licenses. According to court...

TAMPA , Fla . – U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber sentenced Eric Joen Brenes-Colon (34, Orlando) to 9 years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and possession with the intent to distribute cocaine and MDMA (Ecstasy) . Brenes-Colon had pleaded guilty on October 26, 2023. According to...

TAMPA , F la. – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced that a federal jury found Dr. Qing McGaha guilty of 14 counts of unlawful drug distribution, four (4) counts of money laundering, and one (1) count of filing a false tax return. McGaha faces a maximum penalty of...

PENSACOLA, Fla. – A federal judge sentenced the seventh defendant in a large-scale methamphetamine and oxycodone trafficking organization operating primarily in Bay County. The convictions and sentences were announced by Jason R. Coody United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida. “Our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners...

ORLANDO, Fla. – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that a federal jury has found Curtis Tyrone Johnson (35, Melbourne) guilty of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon and possession with the intent to distribute various controlled substances. Johnson faces a minimum mandatory term of...

TAMPA , Fla . – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced that Justin Roberson (34, Clearwater) pleaded guilty to possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine. Roberson faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 10 years, up to life, in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set...

TAMPA, Fla. – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced the return of an indictment charging Dr. Qing McGaha (55, Tampa) with conspiracy to commit unlawful distribution of controlled substances and unlawful distribution of controlled substances for no legitimate medical purpose and outside the usual course of professional practice, as...

FORT MYERS, Fla. – U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell today sentenced Gerald Michael Abraham, 76, of Naples, Florida. to three years in federal prison for dispensing controlled substances (oxycodone and amphetamine) for no legitimate medical purpose. The court also ordered Abraham to forfeit the following items to the United...

MIAMI – A Florida man pleaded guilty yesterday to unlawfully distributing opioids at his pain management clinic in Miami, Florida. According to court documents, Habib Geagea Palacios, 40, of Miami, owned a cash-only pain management clinic in Miami, Florida named General Care Center, Inc. At General Care Center, Palacios paid...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Rhiannon Rader (34, St. Marys, Georgia) was sentenced to five years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute oxycodone, hydrocodone, and alprazolam (Xanax). Rader had pleaded guilty on October 29, 2019. According to court documents, as an employee of a Jacksonville Beach physician’s office, Rader had access...