SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) offices in South Dakota reported a 43% increase in fentanyl powder seizures and 41% decrease in counterfeit pill seizures in 2025 falling in line with a nationwide trend. Across the United States, the DEA has noticed a shift away from pill production...

SAN DIEGO – Keith Octavio Rodriguez Padilla, a prolific firearms trafficker, was sentenced in federal court today to 19.5 years in custody for his role in supplying weapons and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition to the Sinaloa Cartel. This case is part of a long-running investigation targeting the...

Cedar Rapids - Cedar Rapids, Iowa, resident Brian Dennis was sentenced to more than 33 years in federal prison for leading a years-long conspiracy to distribute heroin and fentanyl. Dennis received the prison term after his June 27, 2022, guilty pleas to one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin, two...

SAN DIEGO – A two-year investigation has led to the indictment of 26 defendants for international drug smuggling, drug trafficking, and related conspiracy offenses. One of the defendants, Raul Barajas-Padilla, appeared in federal court yesterday for an initial appearance on the indictment. So far, 17 defendants have been arrested. Efforts...

SAN DIEGO – Tony Davis was sentenced today in federal court by U.S. District Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo to 13 years in prison for supplying the heroin and fentanyl that led to the fatal overdose of a 41-year-old San Diego woman, on October 24, 2018. According to his plea agreement...

SAN DIEGO–A federal grand jury indictment was unsealed in San Diego today against alleged Mexican cartel leader Sergio Valenzuela Valenzuela in connection with his drug trafficking activities. Valenzuela Valenzuela was also the target of sanctions imposed today by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The indictment, returned on September 28...

OMAHA, Neb. –Seizures of fentanyl and heroin made by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in North Dakota increased in 2020 with investigators seeing a 223 percent increase from 2019 in the two drugs combined. Fentanyl, estimated at approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than...

SAN DIEGO – Three Mexican nationals suspected of trafficking huge quantities of illicit drugs for the Sinaloa Cartel were charged in federal court today in connection with what is believed to be the largest single seizure of cash, narcotics and ammunition in this district. Jesus Burgos Arias, Juan Alatorre Venegas...

SAN DIEGO – Christopher Glenn Emison of El Cajon was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Battaglia to 168 months in prison for distributing more than 40 grams of fentanyl - including the fentanyl that caused the death of 45-year old Derrick Hotchkiss. On April 11, 2019, Hotchkiss...

SAN DIEGO – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Otay Mesa commercial facility Friday seized more than 3,100 pounds of methamphetamine, fentanyl powder, fentanyl pills and heroin as part of the second largest methamphetamine bust along the southwest border in the history of the CBP, based on...