SAN DIEGO – Three South American men were convicted by a federal jury late yesterday of trafficking approximately 1,230 kilograms (2,706 pounds) of cocaine worth more than $28 million on the high seas. The verdict came after a weeklong trial before U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez. “These traffickers attempted...

BOISE, Idaho – Jennifer L. Fanopoulos, 41, of Boise, was sentenced yesterday to three years of probation for obtaining controlled substances by fraud. Fanopoulos was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge. Fanopoulos pleaded guilty on Oct. 25, 2018. According to court records, Fanopoulos was employed as a...

PORTLAND, Ore . – Paul Eugene Thomas, 38, of Portland, pleaded guilty on April 10, 2019, to one count of conspiring to manufacture, possess with intent to distribute, distributing marijuana, maintaining drug involved premises and one count of money laundering for his role in a vast conspiracy to traffic marijuana...

PORTLAND, Ore.—Esteban Guillen Ramirez, 53, of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, was sentenced on April 7, 2019, to one year in federal prison and three years’ supervised release for his role in a complex black market peso exchange money laundering scheme. The scheme was uncovered in 2015 following a lengthy investigation by...

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – Marcella Moore, 44, of Lewiston, Idaho, was sentenced to federal prison earlier today for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye sentenced Moore to 54 months in prison followed by three years supervised release. Judge Nye also ordered Moore to pay...

SAN DIEGO – April 7–13, 2019, is National Crime Victims’ Rights Week – a time for law enforcement, prosecutorial agencies, victim advocates and community members to come together and support victims of crime. Enforcing victim’s rights protects victims, enhances public safety and fosters public confidence in our criminal justice system...

SAN DIEGO – Three federal indictments unsealed in San Diego this week charge 20 people, including documented gang members and associates, with trafficking in oxycodone, methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana and ultra-deadly carfentanil from homes in City Heights, College Grove and Imperial Beach. One defendant, Dat Pham Tien Tran aka “Damian,” is...

SEATTLE – Three members of an international drug trafficking organization pleaded guilty on March 25, 2019, in U.S. District Court in Seattle to distributing more than a thousand kilograms of marijuana. The defendants admitted in their plea agreements that they used money from conspirators in the Peoples Republic of China...

SPOKANE, Wash. – Dr. James Stein-Sheridan Shelby, 50, of Spokane, pled guilty on March 20, 2019, to conspiring with Timothy James Felch, 36, also of Spokane, to distribute opioid pain medications, hydrocodone and tramadol, without a legitimate medical purpose and outside the usual course of professional practice. Shelby also pleaded...

SAN DIEGO – A leader of the Westside Crips was sentenced to 82 months in prison on March 7, 2019 for his aggravating role in a racketeering conspiracy involving sex trafficking, narcotics trafficking and other violent crimes as well as possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute...