SAN DIEGO - Physician Naga Raja Thota, a pain specialist with an office in El Cajon, pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday, admitting that he fraudulently and illegally wrote prescriptions for hundreds of oxycodone and hydrocodone tablets for patients with no medical necessity, one of whom was a sex partner...

SAN DIEGO - Roberto Ponce-Rocha was extradited from Colombia on November 17, 2016, where he had been arrested for charges arising out of his leadership role in a drug trafficking conspiracy involving the transportation of large-scale quantities of cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine into the United States. As part of the...

PHILADELPHIA - Special Agent in Charge Gary Tuggle of the Drug Enforcement Administration’(DEA) Philadelphia Division announced today that 39,418.87 pounds of prescription drugs were collected across Pennsylvania and Delaware during DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day event this past Saturday, October 22nd. A specific breakdown of amounts collected by regions...

SAN DIEGO - The final tally is in from the 12th National Prescription Take-Back Day which took place Saturday, October 22, and DEA and its partners took back nearly 8,000 pounds of prescription drugs at 39 locations in San Diego County and four in Imperial County. Over the course of...

PHILADELPHIA - Special Agent in Charge Gary Tuggle of the Drug Enforcement Administration’(DEA) Philadelphia Division announced today that the DEA will conduct its 12th National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day event on Saturday, October 22nd between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. As with previous Take-Back events, approximately 353 collection sites will...

SAN DIEGO - America is presently experiencing an epidemic of addiction, overdose and death due to abuse of prescription drugs, particularly opioid painkillers. 6.4 million Americans age 12 and over-2.4 percent of the population-abuse prescription drugs, according to the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health released last month...

PHILADELPHIA - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Gary Tuggle, along with Federal Bureau of (FBI) Special Agent in Charge Michael Harpster and U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, announced today that Chasing the Dragon: The Life of an Opiate Addict, a documentary about...

SAN DIEGO - Physician Naga Raja Thota, a pain specialist with an office in El Cajon, was arrested this morning and charged with distributing oxycodone and other highly addictive drugs without any legitimate medical purpose in exchange for sex acts. The doctor was taken into custody by San Diego Drug...

PHILADELPHIA - Special Agent in Charge Gary Tuggle of the Drug Enforcement Administration’(DEA) Philadelphia Division announced today that the DEA will host a Pharmacy Diversion Awareness (PDAC) in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania as part of the DEA’s mission to address prescription opioid and heroin abuse. The diversion of pharmaceutical controlled substances...

PHILADELPHIA - Gary Tuggle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’(DEA) Philadelphia Division, announced today that 3,383 drug-related overdose deaths were reported across Pennsylvania in 2015; an increase of 23.4% from the total number of overdose deaths reported in 2014. The DEA released its Analysis of Drug Related...