SEATTLE - A Drug Enforcement (DEA) led task force conducted raids at 14 locations across King and Pierce Counties, as well as locations in Oregon, following a two-year investigation of a drug trafficking organization. Law enforcement searched residential and business locations in Maple Valley, Enumclaw, Ravensdale, Auburn, Kent, Federal Way...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Rachel Rangel, 29, of Anchorage, Alaska, was sentenced to eight years imprisonment on November 3, 2016, for her role in a narcotics trafficking organization. U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Gleason also ordered Rangel to serve five years of supervised release following her release from custody. On June...

SEATTLE - Eleven people were arrested yesterday in Washington and Nevada in connection with a large drug smuggling and distribution ring operating in four western Washington counties. An additional person was already in immigration custody. The arrests coincided with the execution of 24 court-authorized search warrants for properties located in...

SEATTLE - Six years after the DEA launched its National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, Americans continue to turn out in large numbers to rid their homes of unused medications, including controlled prescription (CPDs) such as painkillers, tranquilizers, and stimulants. The Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington State, Idaho and Alaska) made...

SEATTLE - Three people involved in an elaborate scheme to obtain narcotic drugs by using forged prescriptions both online and in person now face federal charges. The conspirators used stolen DEA registration numbers to create phony prescriptions while using various online tools to make it appear that the prescriptions were...

SEATTLE - DEA reprises this weekend one of its most popular community programs: National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. On Saturday October 22 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., the public can dispose of their unused, unwanted prescription medications at one of 156 collection sites in the Pacific Northwest, operated...

BOISE, Idaho - Brian Weaver Cluff, 44, of Meridian, Idaho, was sentenced on October 12, 2016, in United States District Court to 322 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug crime. U.S. District Judge Stanley A. Bastian from the...

PORTLAND, Ore. - On Wednesday, September 21, 2016, the Drug Enforcement (DEA) will join leaders from federal, state and local law enforcement and public health agencies in “Taking Stock,” a roundtable discussion examining Oregon’s prescription opioid and heroin epidemic. DEA in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Federal Bureau...

BOISE, Idaho - Michael Minas, 50, of Boise, Idaho, was sentenced on September 8, 2016, to eight years in federal prison on 80 counts of unlawfully distributing controlled substances outside the usual course of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose. Senior U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge...

PHOENIX - The DEA announced the recent conviction of Luis Alfonso Felix-Hernandez, an already incarcerated subject who was found guilty of multiple federal charges after it was discovered he was continuing his drug trafficking operations from within prison walls. Information provided to federal agents by Mesa Police Department detectives indicated...