WASHINGTON: A strategically coordinated, six-week nationwide federal law enforcement action has resulted in criminal charges against 138 defendants, including 42 doctors, nurses, and other licensed medical professionals, in 31 federal districts across the United States for their alleged participation in various healthcare fraud schemes for more than $1.4 billion in...

Baltimore, Md., – U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar sentenced Jerold Gilliam, age 40, of Baltimore, Maryland to nine years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute a substance containing fentanyl and possession with the intent to distribute a substance containing fentanyl. The...

ALEXANDRIA, Va., – A Georgia man pleaded guilty yesterday to distributing illicit prescription drugs over the Darknet and shipping them across the country via the U.S Postal Service. According to court documents, from around April 2020 through October 2020, Cullen Roberts, 23, of Duluth, Georgia, used the moniker “Pillpusher” to...

ABINGDON, Va., – A Dobson, North Carolina man pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiring to distribute medically illegitimate prescriptions for Schedule II opioids and Suboxone, as well as conspiring to use, in the course of the distribution of controlled substances, the DEA registration number of another person. According to court documents...

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...

HARRISONBURG, Va. – A Winchester woman pleaded guilty today to distributing acetyl fentanyl and fentanyl. According to court documents, Jennifer Lynn Heishman, 37, of Winchester, Virginia, contacted an individual on February 23, 2019, to arrange a purchase of heroin. Later that evening, Heishman paid $100 for two foil packets of...

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – A husband and wife from Fairfax and their cousin from Spotsylvania were indicted last month for conspiring to distribute controlled substances in Virginia. According to court documents, Fahid Rashid, 30, Akhter Ahmed, 28, and Khalisah Khan, 29, conspired to traffic counterfeit pills containing fentanyl. The defendants, and...

RICHMOND, Va. – A Richmond man who was convicted by a federal jury in March was sentenced yesterday to 12 years in prison for distributing fentanyl in the Mosby Court neighborhood. According to court records and evidence presented at trial and sentencing, Quotez Tyveck Pair, 33, was a drug trafficker...

NORFOLK, Va. – A Norfolk man pleaded guilty today to conspiring to distribute fentanyl and heroin, and to possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. According to court documents, Christopher McKinley Barnes, 36, sold heroin and fentanyl from late 2016 until he was arrested on April 16...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Utica, New York man pleaded guilty yesterday to charges relating to his sale of over $1.2 million in opioid pills and counterfeit U.S. currency on multiple dark web criminal marketplaces. According to court documents, from around October 2016 through February 2021, Albie Pagan, 65, operated under...