ROANOKE, Va. -- Ana Bella Sanchez-Rios, the former owner and operator of a Martinsville business used to launder more than $4.3 million in profits for an international drug cartel, was sentenced last week in U.S. District Court to 96 months in federal prison. Sanchez-Rios laundered the funds for the Jalisco...

Harrisonburg, Va. – Two of the five defendants charged as part of a conspiracy that trafficked heroin from Maryland to Virginia leading to at least one fatal and one non-fatal overdose were sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court in Harrisonburg, Special Agent in Charge Jarod A. Forget of the Drug...

ALEXANDRIA, Va., – A Florida man pleaded guilty today to unlawfully distributing thousands of prescription opioid pills in exchange for over half a million dollars through the “dark web.” According to court documents, between 2012 and 2020, Daren James Reid, 35, of Fort Lauderdale, used the dark web to distribute...

NEW YORK – Ray Donovan, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration New York Division, Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Peter C. Fitzhugh, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Division of Homeland Security Investigations, and Dermot Shea...

ALBANY, NEW YORK - Acting United States Attorney Antoinette T. Bacon announced today that her office, together with federal, state, and local law enforcement, has launched a law enforcement task force focused on combating human trafficking. The task force is comprised of members from the United States Attorney’s Office; Federal...

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The mastermind behind an extensive drug trafficking ring entered a guilty plea this week, and four other defendants either entered pleas or were sentenced recently to substantial terms in prison for distributing large amounts of fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine in Newport News and North Carolina. “This...

ROANOKE, Va. – Bryan Wade Lewis, a former pharmacist at Home Choice Partners in Roanoke, was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court for tampering with a consumer product, hydromorphone, that affected interstate commerce. Jarod Forget, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA's Washington Division and Acting United States Attorney Daniel...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Seabrook, New Hampshire man pleaded guilty today to his role in a nationwide conspiracy to distribute synthetic cannabinoids, commonly known as “spice” or “K2.” According to court documents, William Walsh, 56, operated two shops in Seabrook—“Up N Smoke” and “The Smoking Monkey”—from which he sold retail...

NEW YORK CITY – The New York Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) seized an alarming amount of methamphetamine and fentanyl during 2020. In Fiscal Year 2020, there was a 214% increase in methamphetamine and 59% rise in fentanyl seized in New York, in comparison to 2019. These...

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – Mark Mongillo, 31, of Unadilla, New York, appeared in federal court today on a criminal complaint charging him with methamphetamine distribution charges and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, announced Acting United States Attorney Antoinette T. Bacon and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration...