SAN DIEGO – An indictment unsealed today charges Carlos Paez Pereda, aka “Carlitos,” aka “Carlitos Rugrats,” alleged high-ranking lieutenant and leader of a violent wing of the Sinaloa Cartel called “Los Rugrats,” with Narcoterrorism and Material Support of Terrorism in connection with trafficking massive amounts of fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A dual Lebanese-Syrian national was sentenced today to 30 years in prison for narco-terrorism conspiracy and 20 years in prison for conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, to be served concurrently. According to court records and evidence presented at trial, Antoine Kassis...

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- A Dubuque man who distributed methamphetamine and attempted to escape from a correctional facility was sentenced on June 30, to 25 years in federal prison. Christopher Allen Puccio, age 32, from Dubuque, Iowa, received the prison term after a July 21, 2025, guilty plea to one...

New York – Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) New York Task Force Division Special Agent in Charge Christopher Roberts and New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the convictions and sentencings of Anthony Ortiz Vasquez, Hector Vasquez, and Kiara Rodriguez for their roles in a gun and drug trafficking network that...

MINNEAPOLIS – United States Attorney Daniel N. Rosen announced today the unsealing of an indictment and superseding indictment charging members and associates of two Minnesota-based drug trafficking organizations with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and fentanyl, firearms offenses, possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, and causing death through use of...

Albany, New York – Felix Arencibia, age 40, of Amsterdam, New York, was sentenced today to 168 months’ imprisonment and five years of post-imprisonment supervised release for conspiracy and methamphetamine distribution charges in connection with his distribution and possession with intent to distribute more than 5 kilograms of pure methamphetamine...

CENTENNIAL, CO – The Drug Enforcement Administration's Rocky Mountain Field Division (RMFD) is issuing a warning after DEA's Southwest Laboratory identified illicit pills containing mixtures of both deadly fentanyl/carfentanil and fentanyl/heroin. The drugs were found in tablets after lab analyses of recent seizures in both Colorado and Utah. "With these...

Jacksonville, Fla. – Owens Coleman Parker, Jr. (51, Jacksonville) has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jordan E. Pratt to 17 years and 6 months in federal prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl and 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. Parker...

SARATOGA, NEW YORK – Operation Fast Track has led to the arrest of 83 defendants and the seizure of more than 2,100 counterfeit pills, some of which are suspected to be laced with fentanyl, over two kilograms of fentanyl and heroin, over a kilogram of cocaine, 3.5 pounds of psychedelic...

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A Kansas man was sentenced to 167 months in prison for his role in a transnational drug trafficking organization with ties to a Mexican cartel. The sentence follows a Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) investigation which has so far led to convictions of approximately a dozen...