LOS ANGELES – A High Desert physician remains in federal custody today after his arrest Wednesday on charges of illegally dispensing prescriptions for often-abused controlled substances – including opioid-based medications – during telemedicine sessions with “patients” from across the United States. Dr. Raphael Tomas Malikian, 36, who resides in Llano...

Greenbelt, Md., – A federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging four men for a conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl. The indictment was returned on August 11, 2021. The defendants were arrested on a related criminal complaint on August 10, 2021...

HOUSTON – Today, Drug Enforcement Administration Houston Division diversion investigators served three Immediate Suspension Orders that immediately suspended the DEA registrations held by Woodfield Distribution, LLC. and Woodfield Pharmaceuticals, LLC. (collectively, Woodfield) for failure to maintain effect controls against the diversion of controlled substances and the imminent danger to public...

Baltimore, MD – A 16-month investigation by the Baltimore OCDETF Strike Force into drug dealing in Baltimore has led to eleven alleged wholesale drug suppliers being charged in a federal indictment for conspiracy, drug distribution, and firearms charges. The indictment was returned under seal on July 29, 2021, and was...

ALBANY, NY – Dr. Larry Bruni has agreed to pay the United States $50,000 to resolve allegations that on numerous occasions from 2016 through 2020, he prescribed controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose or outside the usual course of a professional medical practice, in violation of the Controlled Substances...

RICHMOND, Va., – A Guatemalan national was sentenced today to 17 and a half years in prison for his role as a transportation manager in a large-scale Guatemalan drug trafficking organization (DTO). According to court documents, between 2015 and 2016, Edi Barrera-Salguero, 46, conspired to distribute thousands of kilograms or...

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...

Greenbelt, Md., – U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Russell Stanley III, age 40, of Bowie, Maryland, today to 11 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to commit an offense against the United...

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., – A dermatologist formerly employed at a dermatological practice in the City of Charlottesville was sentenced last week to 12 months probation, including a period of home confinement and electronic monitoring, for using the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration number of her co-workers to obtain prescription opioid pain...

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...