HOUSTON – A Houston physician and the owner of a pain management clinic were each sentenced to 420 months in prison today for their roles in running a pill mill that provided tens of thousands of unlawful prescriptions for millions of doses of opioids and other controlled substances. Special Agent...

SAN DIEGO – Jose Atalo Felix-Beltran, Arturo Felix-Beltran (U.S. citizens), and Osvaldo Felix-Beltran (U.S. resident) living in Indio, California, were arraigned in federal court on September 14, 2018 on charges that they conspired to distribute over 20,000 pills of fentanyl, a Schedule II drug. These three defendants are brothers who...

SEATTLE - Two men were charged today in a multi-count indictment for their scheme to traffic fentanyl disguised as fake oxycodone pills in Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcom Counties. Bradley Woolard, 39, of Arlington is charged in all five counts of the indictment alleging drug distribution and illegal firearms possession. Griffin...

SHREVEPORT, La. – Two Texas men pleaded guilty to trafficking more than 10 kilograms of fentanyl through Louisiana, announced Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam and United States Attorney David C. Joseph. Felipe Rodriguez, 22, of McAllen, Texas, and Brandon Montoya, 24, of Kaufman, Texas, pleaded...

WASHINGTON – The Drug Enforcement Administration today announced action against a dangerous designer synthetic cathinone linked to 151 overdose deaths in the United States between 2015 and 2018. Published in today’s Federal Register, DEA’s action puts N-Ethylpentylone into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. Schedule I substances refer to...

WASHINGTON – The Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance today released the Fentanyl Safety Recommendations for First Responders’ companion training video Fentanyl: The Real Deal. The video was produced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to help first responders protect themselves when the presence of fentanyl is suspected...

DETROIT - The Drug Enforcement Administration and United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan today announced that the University of Michigan Health System has agreed to pay the United States $4.3 million as part of a settlement resolving allegations that UMHS violated certain provisions of the Controlled...

DAYTON, Ohio – David Kirkwood, 62, of Dayton, was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 70 months in prison and five years of supervised release for running a pill mill in Dayton. In August 2017, Kirkwood and his wife, Beverly Kirkwood, pleaded guilty to health care fraud. David Kirkwood...

CELINA, Tenn. -- DEA investigators this week conducted inspections at several pharmacy locations in the Clay County, Tennessee town of Celina, following an inquiry into irregular patterns of pill purchases from drug distribution companies. DEA is now investigating possible criminal activity involving the illicit diversion of controlled prescription pharmaceuticals at...

AKRON, Ohio – Ryan Sumlin, 29, was convicted by a jury earlier this year on charges of distribution of fentanyl and heroin that resulted in death, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and possession with intent to distribute heroin. U.S. District Judge Donald C. Nugent sentenced Sumlin to life in...