NEWPORT NEWS, Va., – The ringleader behind an extensive drug trafficking ring was sentenced today to 33 years in prison for distributing large amounts of fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine in Newport News and North Carolina. According to court documents, Ramiro Ramirez-Barreto, 44, from the Mexican State of Morelos, operated a...

SAN DIEGO – Olatunde James Temitope Akintonde of El Cajon, California pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday, admitting that he sold fentanyl-laced pills that caused the death of a nineteen-year-old Santee, California man, identified in court records as S.J.G., in March of 2019. According to his plea agreement, Akintonde admitted...

Baltimore, MD – Joel William Hammond, age 35, of Essex, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute at least 28 grams of cocaine base. The guilty plea was announced by Jarod Forget, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Washington Division; Jonathan F...

BALTIMORE, Md., – Joel William Hammond, age 35, of Essex, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute at least 28 grams of cocaine base. The guilty plea was announced by Jarod Forget, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Washington Field Division; Jonathan...

Washington, D.C. – Jarod Forget, Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the DEA Washington Division, is alerting all area residents to an increase in drug overdose deaths tied to counterfeit pills containing the powerful synthetic opioid, fentanyl. Manufactured by Mexican drug trafficking organizations, and marketed as a medication such as...

SAN DIEGO – An indictment was unsealed today in federal court charging 60 members of a San Diego-based international methamphetamine distribution network tied to the Sinaloa Cartel with drug trafficking, money laundering and firearms offenses. During the last month, hundreds of federal, state, and local law enforcement agents and officers...

Baltimore, MD –Ronald Alexander, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, heroin, and powder and crack cocaine. While participating in a narcotics conspiracy, Alexander was employed by “Safe Streets,” an organization working to reduce violence and crime in Baltimore through intervention. While he was engaged in the...

SAN DIEGO – Pacific Beach resident Maya Kol was sentenced in federal court today to 15 years in prison for selling fentanyl powder that caused the death of one man and sent another to the hospital over Labor Day weekend in September 2018. Two other men—including the source of Kol’s...

ABINGDON, Va. – A Miami, Florida man pleaded guilty last week to conspiring with a Bristol, Tennessee man to pay and receive kickbacks. According to court documents, Michael Olshavsky, 51, of Miami, Florida, and John Paul Linke, 57, of Bristol, Tenn., conspired to receive and pay kickbacks to encourage urine...

Baltimore, MD – U.S. District Judge George L. Russell, III, sentenced Robert Bascom, age 48, of Baltimore, Maryland to eight years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute 100 grams of heroin. The sentence was announced...