SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Jianhua Zhao, 25, of the People’s Republic of China, and residing in Brooklyn, New York, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Damon R. Leichty on Oct.1, 2026, after pleading guilty to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine and distributing five grams or more of methamphetamine...

MILWAUKEE -- U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman sentenced Jerry Jones III, 69, a former emergency room physician from Mequon, Wisconsin, to 27 months’ imprisonment on Oct. 1, 2026, announced Brad D. Schimel, First Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. On June 29, 2026, Jones pleaded guilty...

LAREDO, Texas – The final defendant in a three-person drug trafficking conspiracy has been ordered to federal prison for distributing fentanyl and heroin. Freddy Serano, 42, pleaded guilty April 7. On Sept. 16, U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo ordered Serano to serve 18 months in federal prison to be...

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – On Sept. 23, 2026, Robert Newton, 34, of Niles, Michigan, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Damon R. Leichty after pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. Newton was sentenced to 120 months in prison followed by five...

PEORIA, Ill. – Dione D. Alexander, 37, of Peoria, was sentenced on Sept. 18, 2026, to 120 months’ imprisonment for distribution of 50 grams or more of methamphetamine (actual), to be followed by five years of supervised release. At sentencing the government provided information that between Sept. 4, 2024, and...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas – A 40-year-old Baytown man has been sentenced for possession with intent to deliver cocaine. Pablo Luis Fuentes-Rivas pleaded guilty July 2, 2025. At a Sept. 17 hearing, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. ordered Fuentes-Rivas to serve 70 months in federal prison. His prison term will be...

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – On Sept. 18, 2026, DeCarlos L. Smallwood, 51, of South Bend, was convicted of eight felony counts after a four-day jury trial before U.S. District Court Judge Damon R. Leichty. Smallwood was found guilty of drug and firearm offenses, including conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or...

CHICAGO – Todd C. Smith, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Chicago Field Division, announced drug-related charges filed with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office against two men. Burhan C. Ozerdinc, 33, of Oak Lawn, Illinois, and Ahmad S. Sanducka, 33, of Mount Prospect, Illinois, were...

CHICAGO — A woman has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for using information stolen from physicians to fraudulently write opioid prescriptions. AMANI IBRAHIM fraudulently caused prescriptions for oxycodone, hydrocodone, and other controlled substances to be issued under the names of real medical providers and often in the...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas – A 29-year-old woman has been sentenced for possession with intent to deliver cocaine. Laura Janette Gonzalez pleaded guilty Sept. 21, 2025. U.S. District Judge Rolando Olvera has now ordered Gonzalez to serve 25 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by two years of supervised release...