TAMPA, Fla. – U.S. District Judge Thomas Barber has sentenced Marvin “MJ” Mitchell (36, St. Petersburg) to 15 years in federal prison for conspiracy and possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl, heroin, and crack cocaine. Mitchell had pleaded guilty on April 14, 2022. According to court documents and evidence...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – William K. Gordon, Jr., 28, originally of Cairo, Georgia, but living in Tallahassee, Florida, at the time of his arrest, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to a conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, one count of distribution of...

NEW YORK - Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced this week that Oscar Valdez-Garcia, a/k/a “Pony,” an assassin for La Organización de Narcotraficantes Unidos (“La ONU”), was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman to 40 years in prison. Valdez-Garcia previously...

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Fabian Tomaz Frazier, 27, of Port Saint Joe, Florida, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to distribute marijuana and over 500 grams of a mixture containing methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime...

ORLANDO , Fla . –David Torres-Velez (48, Davenport) has been sentenced to 5 years and 10 months in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Torres-Velez had pleaded guilty on April 20, 2022. According to court documents, Torres-Velez was involved in multiple kilogram-level cocaine transactions over the course of 2020...

OCALA, Fla. – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced that Brody Kies (39, Webster) pleaded guilty to a four-count indictment charging him with possessing with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and heroin, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and possessing a firearm as a convicted...

ORLANDO , Fla – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced the unsealing of two indictments charging 13 individuals in 2 drug conspiracies in the Orlando area. According to the redacted indictments, the below individuals are in custody and charged with conspiring with each other, and others, to distribute and...

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...

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...