PHOENIX, Ariz — DEA Special Agent in Charge Apolonio Ruiz Jr. joined Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and HIDTA Director Dawn Mertz to announce the results of a major multi-agency drug operation targeting criminal organizations operating in Arizona communities. “This extraordinary investigation saved countless lives,”...

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Eduardo Valenzuela Lopez, 33, of Cajeme, Sonora, Mexico, and Jael Gonzalez Banuelos, 22, of Phoenix, Arizona, were arrested on the morning of Feb. 24, 2026, by members of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for conspiring to distribute fentanyl. Valenzuela Lopez and Gonzalez Banuelos were charged by criminal...

SAN DIEGO – Nameer Mohammad Atta was sentenced in federal court today to 20 years in prison for distributing the fentanyl that led to the fatal overdose of a 26-year-old active-duty lance corporal in the United States Marine Corps on May 21, 2020. When handing down the sentence, U.S. District...

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Dominik Israel Lopez, 24, of Mesa, Arizona, was sentenced on November 24, 2025, by United States District Judge Krissa Lanham to 108 months of prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Lopez pleaded guilty to Distribution of Fentanyl, with death resulting. In March 2020...

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...

SAN DIEGO – Prolific drug dealer Bryan Kim Bullard, who supplied fentanyl to 25-year-old Danielle Good of Carlsbad and failed to seek help for over an hour while she lay dying of an overdose in a bathtub, was sentenced today in federal court to 20 years in prison. “The trafficking...

SAN DIEGO – Jonathan Tyler Gauthier, a prolific fentanyl dealer who kept selling the deadly drug despite the fatal overdoses of two customers within a four-month span, was sentenced in federal court today to 30 years in prison. According to the government’s sentencing memorandum, Gauthier sold the fentanyl that killed...

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Jose Angel Gonzalez-Carrillo, 46, of Modesto, California, and Ethyel Aldahyr Ontiveros-Flores, 25, of Mazatlan, Mexico, were arrested on the evening of June 2, 2025, and charged by criminal complaint for conspiring to distribute over 36 kilograms of fentanyl pills, and over 9 kilograms of fentanyl powder. On...

TUCSON, Ariz. – German Montano-Peralta, 33, of Nacozari, Sonora, Mexico, was sentenced on May 12, 2025, by United States District Judge Angela Martinez to 88 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Montano-Peralta previously pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Fentanyl and Methamphetamine. On April 30, 2024...

TUCSON, Ariz. – Adrian Lopez-Aparicio, 40, of Mexico, was sentenced on April 24, 2025, by United States District Judge Scott H. Rash to 41 months in prison. Lopez-Aparicio previously pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. On October 3, 2024, Lopez-Aparicio was found in possession...