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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

PHOENIX - DEA Special Agent in Charge Doug Coleman and Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced the indictment of Dr. Harinder Kumar Takyar following a 42-count indictment by a state grand jury alleging Dr. Takyar prescribed controlled substances with no medical necessity and provided compensation for the referral of patients to...

PHOENIX - DEA announced today the sentencing of Robert South to over five years in prison after pleading guilty to drug and money laundering charges stemming from his role as the head of a steroid trafficking organization based in Phoenix, Arizona. South used underground laboratories in Phoenix to convert raw...

Amendments 20 and 64 have unintended consequences for many of our neighborhoods DENVER - The Drug Enforcement Administration has released a new Intelligence Report titled “” available on the DEA.gov website. The report was produced by the Intelligence Unit of the Denver Division and addresses some of the unintended pitfalls...