Phoenix, Ariz. – Jose Guadalupe Tapia-Quintero, 54, of San Francisco de Tacuichamona, Sinaloa, Mexico pleaded guilty on November 17, 2025 for Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine with Intent to Import into the United States and Conspiracy to Commit Concealment Money Laundering. Sentencing is scheduled for February 2, 2026, before United States...

TUCSON, Ariz. – Jose Antonio Ornelas, Jr., 33, of Tucson, was sentenced on July 10, by United States District Court Judge Rosemary Márquez to 98 months in prison, followed by four years of supervised release. Ornelas, Jr. previously pleaded guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine. On October 3...

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. – Armando Puentes-Melendez, 38, of Mexico, was sentenced on April 24, 2025, by United States District Judge Scott H. Rash to 60 months in prison. Puentes-Melendez previously pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine. On January 18, 2024, law enforcement agents intercepted a drug transaction involving over 100...

TUCSON, Ariz. –Sergio Humberto Ramos, 73, of Nogales, was sentenced last week by United States District Court Chief Judge Jennifer G. Zipps to 120 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release. Ramos pleaded guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine, admitting that he was paid...

PHOENIX - Maria Fernanda Granillo-Velazquez, 21, of Mexico, was charged on August 19, 2022, by criminal complaint for Possession with Intent to Distribute Fentanyl. Granillo-Velazquez had her initial appearance on August 22, 2022, before United States Magistrate Judge Michael T. Morrissey. The case is set for trial on November 1...

PHOENIX – Special Agent in Charge Cheri Oz and Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced today that Jose Luis Montoya Miranda has been indicted on one count Conspiracy, one count Illegally Conducting an enterprise, one count Transportation of a Narcotic Drug for sale (Fentanyl) in an Amount over the Statutory Threshold...

TUCSON, Ariz. – Today, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona announced the unsealing of a 30-count indictment against 13 individuals for charges related to the distribution of methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine, and heroin. On May 4, a federal grand jury in Tucson returned the indictment against the...

PHOENIX - Reyes Luis Holguin, 29, of Phoenix, Arizona, agreed this week to pay $6,103 in restitution to the family of a young mother whose life was taken by fentanyl she bought from Holguin in August 2019. In December 2021, U.S. District Judge Susan M. Brnovich sentenced Holguin to 10...

PHOENIX - Today, the Drug Enforcement Administration issued a Public Safety Alert warning Americans of the alarming increase in the lethality and availability of fake prescription pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine. DEA’s Public Safety Alert, the first in six years, seeks to raise public awareness of a significant nationwide surge...