SAN DIEGO – OptumRx Inc., a prescription drug benefit provider, has agreed to pay $20 million to resolve allegations that it improperly filled certain opioid prescriptions in violation of the Controlled Substances Act. The settlement resolves an investigation initiated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) into whether, between April 2013...

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan announced today that two individuals have been charged with murder in connection with the fentanyl overdose death of 31-year-old Connor Gerhart. Defendants Sheri Cavanaugh, 59, and her co-conspirator, Micah Seau, 31, are both charged with murder and conspiracy to commit a crime. The...

SAN DIEG O - Luis Reinaldo Ramirez of Mesa, Arizona, was sentenced in federal court today to 120 months in prison for his role as a leader in a transnational criminal organization that laundered $16.5 million dollars in narcotics proceeds for the Sinaloa Cartel. Ramirez was also sentenced for his...

SAN DIEGO -Josue Adan Lemus-Lara, aka “Fenix,” was sentenced in federal court today to 260 months in prison. His sentence follows his conviction after a week-long jury trial in November 2023 where he was convicted on all charges in a maritime cocaine trafficking conspiracy. During a multi-year wiretap investigation led...

SAN DIEG O - Derek Neal Turfler of San Diego was sentenced in federal court today to 97 months in prison for his role in selling fentanyl pills to a 27-year-old woman who fatally overdosed on May 9, 2022. According to his plea agreement, Turfler arranged a meeting to deliver...

SAN DIEG O - Former U.S. Border Patrol Agent Hector Hernandez pleaded guilty in federal court today, admitting that he used his official position to smuggle unauthorized immigrants and illegal drugs across the border in exchange for money. According to his plea agreement, Hernandez admitted to using his official position...

SAN DIEG O - Wilder Emilio Sanchez Farfan, aka Gato, an Ecuadorian national and alleged drug trafficker, made his first appearance in federal court today following his extradition to the United States from Colombia yesterday. At the hearing, Sanchez Farfan entered a not guilty plea. U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara L...

SAN DIEGO – Jonathan Miguel Lopez was sentenced in federal court to 120 months in prison for selling the fentanyl pills that resulted in the fatal overdose of 23-year-old Sherie Gil on September 30, 2021. Lopez pleaded guilty in October 2022. According to the government’s sentencing memo, on the morning...

SAN DIEGO – Four sons of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the imprisoned former Sinaloa Cartel leader known as El Chapo, were indicted by a federal grand jury for large-scale drug trafficking, money laundering and violent crimes in connection with their assumption of cartel leadership following their father’s arrest and extradition to...

SAN DIEGO - Today, the U.S. Attorney’s Office unsealed a complaint charging San Diego resident, Edgar Lopez Feliciano, with maintaining a steroid distribution center in Spring Valley. As detailed in the complaint, Feliciano’s network is allegedly involved in the creation and distribution of significant quantities of anabolic steroids throughout the...