BOSTON – A former employee of a family-owned plumbing business in Millbury was sentenced today for drug, money laundering and fraud convictions arising from his role in a large-scale marijuana grow operation. Thomas Laverty, 40, of Clinton, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman to 12 years...

Washington, D.C. – Today, DEA Acting Administrator D. Christopher Evans, and Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Washington Division, Jarod Forget, announce the release of the 2020 National Drug Threat Assessment – DEA’s annual publication outlining the threats posed to the U.S. by domestic and international drug trafficking and...

COLUMBUS, Ga. – A Columbus man with a lengthy criminal history was sentenced to serve 168 months in federal prison for attempting to distribute a half-kilo of methamphetamine, said Peter D. Leary, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia. Jeffery McBride, 40, of Columbus, was sentenced by...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Eight defendants have been indicted by a federal grand jury for their roles in a $4.1 million conspiracy to distribute more than 520 kilograms of methamphetamine. Tina Marie Bailey, 36, and Martin Lee Williams, 58, both of Kansas City, Mo.; Mark Williams Hildebrand II, 31, and...

MACON, GA - Twelve defendants have been charged in a newly unsealed federal indictment alleging a middle Georgia drug trafficking conspiracy. Eight men and four women are charged as part of Operation Breaking the Bond, an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation centered in the Bibb County area, said...

BRUNSWICK, GA - A Charlton County man who admitted trafficking methamphetamine in south Georgia has been sentenced to more than 20 years in federal prison. Phillip Yarbrough, 39, of Folkston, Ga., was sentenced to 264 months in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood after pleading guilty to...

ATHENS, Ga. – An inmate in the Georgia Department of Corrections system has pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine from prison, said Peter D. Leary, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia. Frankie Baza, 33, of Flowery Branch, Georgia, pleaded guilty to one count conspiracy to...

OMAHA, Neb. – Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigators took an estimated $2.8 million worth of methamphetamine and marijuana off the streets of Iowa in 2020 and reported an increase in cocaine and fentanyl seizures. Agents from DEA offices in Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Sioux City and the Quad Cities removed...

MANCHESTER, NH – Today, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration launched a comprehensive law enforcement and prevention initiative aimed at reducing drug use, abuse and overdose deaths. “Operation Engage” allows participating field divisions to focus on the biggest drug threat and resulting violence in their respective geographic areas. The initiative...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City, Missouri, man has pleaded guilty in federal court to illegally possessing methamphetamine and a firearm. Michael Allen Dicks, Jr., 31, pleaded guilty before U.S. Chief District Judge Beth Phillips on Tuesday, Feb. 23, to one count of possessing methamphetamine to distribute and one...