PHOENIX, Ariz. – Last week, Jose Ismael Castro Leon, 47, a Mexican national living in the United States illegally, was charged by federal criminal complaint in Phoenix, Arizona with Possession with the Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine and Fentanyl. According to the complaint, investigators with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) East...

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Last week, John Avendano, 21, of Phoenix, Arizona, was charged by federal criminal complaint in Phoenix, Arizona with Possession with the Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine. According to the complaint, on September 22, a Task Force Officer with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) East Valley Drug Enforcement Task...

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Jorge Anaya-Valencia, 48, of Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico, who was unlawfully living in Arizona, was sentenced on September 23, by United States District Judge Krissa M. Lanham to 180 months in prison for Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine. Anaya-Valencia’s co-defendants, all illegal aliens, were previously sentenced in this case...

OMAHA, Neb. –The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Omaha Field Division hosted its fourth annual Family Summit at the University of Nebraska-Omaha Thompson Alumni Center today, focusing conversations on the impact of fentanyl and other drugs on tribal communities while also integrating indigenous healing practices into the agenda. Fifteen tribes were...

PHOENIX, Ariz. – On September 17, Mariano Gomez Padilla, 28, Eduardo Garcia Lopez, 21, and Abel Martinez Valenzuela, 25, all Mexican nationals living in Arizona, were charged by federal criminal complaint with Conspiracy to Possess with the Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine. According to the complaint, on September 17, Drug Enforcement...

OMAHA, Neb., –Dustin R. Gillespie was named Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Omaha Field Division and begins work today overseeing the agency’s 11 offices across Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. Appointed by DEA Administrator Terrance C. Cole, Gillespie is the fifth person...

MINNEAPOLIS –The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Omaha Division is encouraging families to make conversations about the potentially lethal consequences of drug experimentation and the threat posed by drug dealers on social media part of a routine check-in that takes place several times a year. In the first seven months of...

MINNEAPOLIS – A federal grand jury in Minneapolis charged three more alleged members or associates of the violent street gang known as the Lows, bringing the total number of defendants in this indictment to fourteen. The newest defendants—Marques Armstrong Jr., 30, Davant Moore, 23, and Jahon Lynch, 20, each of...

A man who conspired to distribute fentanyl was sentenced today to more than seven years in federal prison. Joshua Rysavy, age 35, from South Sioux City, Nebraska, received the prison term after a March 18, 2025, guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl. At the sentencing hearing, evidence showed that...

OMAHA, Nebraska – As students across the state prepare to return to school, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Omaha Division is encouraging families to have open conversations about the potentially lethal consequences of drug experimentation and the threat posed by drug dealers on social media. In Nebraska, DEA has seized...