CHICAGO - A LaSalle County physician was sentenced today to 12 years in federal prison for illegally dispensing prescription medications, including opioids, in exchange for cash or sex. Constantino Perales, M.D., illegally prescribed oxycodone and Xanax to a patient, Andrew Strandell, knowing that Strandell would sell the pills on the...

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...

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...

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...

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration have proposed a reduction for controlled substances that may be manufactured in the U.S. next year. Consistent with President Trump’s “Safe Prescribing Plan” that seeks to “cut nationwide opioid prescription fills by one-third within three years,” the proposal decreases...

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - A federal jury in Brooklyn today, following two weeks of trial, convicted Dr. Martin Tesher of 10 counts of unlawful distribution of oxycodone without legitimate medical purpose to five patients, one of whom died as a result two days after his last visit with the defendant. When...

TAMPA, Fla. – Jeffrey John Abraham (52, formerly of Tampa) has pleaded guilty to distributing controlled substances not specified in his Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration. He faces a maximum penalty of four years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000. His sentencing date has not yet been set...

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice today announced the finalization of an April proposal to improve the Drug Enforcement Administration’s ability to control the diversion of dangerous drugs in the midst of the national opioid crisis. Announced in April by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the final rule sent for publication...

WASHINGTON –Mexican authorities today extradited Sinaloa Cartel leader Damaso Lopez Nuñez, also known as “El Licenciado,” to the United States to face drug trafficking charges filed in the Eastern District of Virginia. Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger...

WASHINGTON – Today, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the appointment of Uttam Dhillon as Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Dhillon will replace Robert Patterson, who has retired after 30 years of service. "With one American dying of a drug overdose every nine minutes, there can be no doubt...