URBANA, Ill. – Shane R. Catone, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Chicago Field Division, and Gregory M. Gilmore, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois, announced that a federal jury returned eight guilty verdicts on November 19, 2025, against Marcus “Slim” McKinney, 49...

Note: View the Indictment ALBUQUERQUE – An Albuquerque man has been indicted on federal charges following a DEA investigation that uncovered a large-scale narcotics trafficking operation in Albuquerque. According to court documents, on August 13, 2025, DEA agents conducted an undercover operation in Albuquerque in which Jose Magana Garcia, a...

EL PASO, Texas – A Mexican national charged with four counts in a 14-count indictment was extradited to the Western District of Texas following his arrest in Mexico last week. According to court documents, from January 2016 through August 2019, Hector Adrian Rojero Ramos aka Teto, 54, allegedly engaged in...

ALBUQUERQUE – An Arizona man was sentenced to 14 years in prison for drug trafficking and firearms offenses following his arrest at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in New Mexico in 2023. There is no parole in the federal system. According to court documents, on April 27, 2023, David Maldonado...

MIDLAND, Texas – A Mexican national unlawfully residing in Texas was sentenced Thursday to life in federal prison for his criminal actions as the leader of a drug trafficking organization tied to a Mexican cartel. According to court documents, Jose Ramon Castillo-Lopez aka “Pepo,” 30, of Namiquipa, Chihuahua, Mexico, supplied...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Johnnell Smith, 42, of Springfield, Illinois, was sentenced on Feb. 7, 2025, to 120 months in prison for possessing heroin with the intent to distribute it and for possessing a firearm during and in furtherance of a drug crime. At the sentencing hearing in front of Senior...

ALBUQUERQUE – Five members of a drug trafficking organization based in Albuquerque have been charged in federal court with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. Tomas Rubalcaba, 45, Joaquin Rubalcada, 40, and Humberto Gastelum, 65, appeared before a federal judge last week and will remain in custody pending...

CHICAGO — Sheila G. Lyons, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Chicago Field Division, and Acting U.S. Attorney Morris Pasqual for the Northern District of Illinois announced that Antonio Carrazco-Martinez, 43, of Fort Valley, Georgia, has been sentenced to 16 years in federal prison. Carrazco-Martinez ran the Chicago...

CHICAGO — Sheila G. Lyons, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Chicago Field Division, and Morris Pasqual, acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois announced that a suburban Chicago man has been sentenced to 16 years in federal prison for selling fentanyl-laced heroin. Calvin Carter...

ALBUQUERQUE – A California man was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison for attempting to transport over 2 kilograms of heroin by train from Bernalillo County to North Carolina. There is no parole in the federal system. According to court documents, on February 26, 2021, Mario A. Serna was...