TUCSON, Ariz. - The DEA announced today the sentencing of Gustavo Nunez to 38.25 years in prison for performing illegal cosmetic surgeries on seven victims, three of whom were hospitalized, one with life-threatening injuries. In April 2017, Nunez pleaded guilty to 28 felony charges after performing illegal liposuction procedures. “Gustavo...

PHOENIX, Ariz. - The Drug Enforcement (DEA) and Homeland Security (HSI) executed multiple search and arrest warrants today, closing two valley pharmacies and arresting a pharmacist as part of an ongoing OCDETF-designated investigation. On June 28, 2017, agents obtained an indictment from a federal grand jury charging pharmacist Vilawoe Aku...

PHOENIX, Ariz. - The DEA announced the sentencing of Dale Thomas Ratcliffe, a former Doctor of Osteopathy, to 5 years’ probation and the surrender of his medical license, after Ratcliffe was indicted on multiple federal charges earlier this year. Ratcliffe plead guilty to conspiracy to furnish false information after the...

PHOENIX - The DEA’s Phoenix Field Division has finished recording the total amount of drugs collected from those agencies who participated in Saturday’s National Take Back event. Once again, Arizonans turned out in significant numbers and disposed of 9,576.35 pounds, over four tons, of prescription drugs. The total for this...

PHOENIX - DEA announced the 13th National Prescription Drug Take-Back will take place April 29th from 10 am-2 pm local time. As with the previous Take-Back events, sites will be set up throughout communities nationwide so local residents can anonymously return their unwanted, unneeded, or expired prescription drugs for safe...

PHOENIX - The DEA is alerting all citizens to drug overdose deaths tied to counterfeit pills laced with powerful opioid fentanyl. Manufactured by Mexican drug trafficking (DTOs) and sold as oxycodone on the illicit drug market, fentanyl is an opioid 100 times stronger than morphine. These counterfeit pills are smuggled...

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Three defendants were sentenced to federal prison last week for drug trafficking, announced Drug Enforcement (DEA) Assistant Special Agent in Charge Matthew Barden and Kenneth Elser, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas. Santiago (aka Chuco), age 47, of Commerce, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 151...

PHOENIX - The DEA announced the recent discovery of three overdose deaths involving the synthetic opioid U-47700, commonly referred to as “Pink.” The toxicology and investigative reports documenting the fatalities were shared with agents and intelligence resources as part of ongoing efforts by DEA’s Heroin Enforcement Action (HEAT), an enforcement...

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...

PHOENIX - DEA led multiple enforcement operations in Tucson and the surrounding area this morning as part of a long-term federal investigation involving the sales and distribution of synthetic cannabinoids, aka “spice.” DEA coordinated the service of 32 federal search warrants in Tucson, Arizona; Denver, Colorado and Long Beach, California...