Greensboro, NC – A Mexican national and high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel was arrested today in Nogales, Arizona after being indicted for allegedly helping lead a large drug trafficking and money laundering conspiracy. Emmanuel Martimiano Leon-Soto, age 42, of Naco, Mexico, is the last person arrested of 38 total...

SPOKANE, Wash. – Acting United States Attorney Richard Barker announced that United States District Judge Mary K. Dimke sentenced Ricardo Cantu, age 26, to 108 months in prison on drug trafficking charges. Judge Dimke also imposed 4 years of supervised release. According to court documents and information provided at the...

BOISE – Michael Paul Lacasse, 48, and Venetia Dawn Trischan, 47, of Caldwell, were sentenced to 133 months and 96 months, respectively, in federal prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine. According to court records, in December 2023, law enforcement learned that Lacasse and Trischan were involved in...

SAN FRANCISCO – Natalie Marie Gonzalez, the leader of a drug trafficking service that supplied controlled substances throughout the Bay Area to students and young professionals, was sentenced today to 50 months in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine. U.S. District Judge Trina L...

Spokane, Washington – A federal jury returned a guilty verdict in the trial of Luis Esquivel-Bolanos (a/k/a “Colorado”), age 45, of Guerrero, Mexico. Esquivel-Bolanos was found guilty on multiple drug trafficking and firearms charges. United States District Judge Thomas O. Rice presided over Esquivel-Bolanos’s trial, which began April 14, 2025...

BOISE – Evan Nickolai Ernstson, 48, of Boise, was sentenced to 262 months in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, Acting U.S. Attorney Justin Whatcott announced today. Senior U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill also sentenced Ernstson to serve five years of supervised release upon completion of his...

BEAUMONT, Texas – A federal indictment in the Eastern District of Texas has resulted in the arrest of 16 individuals charged with various violations related to a wide-spread methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy, announced Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Acting Special Agent in Charge William Kimbell and Acting U.S. Attorney Abe McGlothin, Jr...

BEAUMONT, Texas – A Liberty man has been sentenced to federal prison for drug trafficking violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced Acting Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge William Kimbell of the Houston Division Acting U.S. Attorney Abe McGlothin, Jr. Thomas James Lawson, 35, pleaded guilty...

BOISE – A large-scale Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation and prosecution resulted in the conviction of 11 Idaho defendants on federal drug trafficking charges, Acting U.S. Attorney Justin Whatcott announced today. The investigation involved the cooperative efforts of 10 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies...

SEATTLE – A 37-year-old man who was living in a Des Moines, Washington, hotel, is charged federally with four counts of possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute, one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, and one count of money laundering announced...