EL PASO, Texas – A high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel was extradited from Mexico to El Paso, indicted for criminal charges related to his alleged federal racketeering, narcotics, money laundering, firearms, and continuing criminal enterprise offenses. According to court documents, Daniel Franco Lopez aka “Micha” aka “Neon” aka “Fer,”...

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Alfred Cooke, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Merrillville, Indiana, and Acting U.S. Attorney Tina L. Nommay for the Northern District of Indiana announced that Jalen Pearson, 31, of South Bend, Indiana, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Damon R. Leichty after...

Note: View the Plea Agreement ALBUQUERQUE – An El Paso man pleaded guilty to federal drug trafficking charges after fleeing a Border Patrol checkpoint in Otero County, leading to a high-speed chase that ended in a head-on collision with a motorcyclist and the discovery of nearly 10 kilograms of pure...

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 a federal grand jury has indicted a suburban Chicago man for allegedly trafficking firearms and drugs. An indictment returned...

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Michael Gannon, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Indianapolis, and Acting U.S. Attorney john E. Childress for the Southern District of Indiana announced that Ethan Parker, 31, and Joshua Harvey 33, both of Evansville, have been sentenced for their parts in a fentanyl...

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...

ALBUQUERQUE – An Albuquerque man with a history of felony convictions was sentenced to 248 months in federal prison for drug trafficking and firearms offenses after being found guilty at trial of possessing nearly two pounds of methamphetamine and a loaded handgun. There is no parole in the federal system...

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...

EL PASO, Texas – A Customs and Border Protection officer was arrested in El Paso on criminal charges related to his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to smuggle undocumented noncitizens for financial gain and alleged drug trafficking activity. According to court documents, between on or about Dec. 21, 2023 and...

ALBUQUERQUE – A federal grand jury has indicted three individuals for their alleged roles in a large-scale marijuana cultivation and distribution operation on Navajo Nation lands. The indictment, unsealed today, charges Dineh Benally, 48, his father, Donald Benally, 74, and Irving Rea Yui Lin, 73, a California resident, with multiple...