WASHINGTON – The Drug Enforcement Administration today announced the launch of an enhanced system to help more than 1,500 registered drug manufacturers and distributors nationwide more effectively identify potential illicit drug diversion and combat the opioid epidemic. On Oct. 24, 2018, President Trump signed into law the “Substance Use–Disorder Prevention...

CHICAGO - The former owner of a Chicago medical clinic admitted in federal court today that he sold opioid prescriptions to patients whom he knew lacked a legitimate medical need for the drugs. MOHAMMED SHARIFF, who owned Midtown Medical Center in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, conspired with a physician to sell...

TAMPA, Fla. – An indictment charging Robert Lee Ward 40, Fort Myers with conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and tampering with an informant by killing him/her was unsealed today. The indictment also charges Dalton Kelvin McGriff 49, Fort Myers with conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or...

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...

CHICAGO — A federal judge has sentenced a California man to 35 years in prison for overseeing an international drug-trafficking organization that used Amtrak trains to ship heroin and cocaine to Chicago from Los Angeles. Edgar Roque, 32, of Paramount, Calif., was the leader of an extensive network of drug...

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...

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...

(MIAMI) - Colombian drug kingpin Henry de Jesus Lopez Londoño was sentenced yesterday to 31 years in prison for importing multi-ton quantities of cocaine into the United States. A Miami jury had found Henry de Jesus Lopez Londoño, a/k/a “Mi Sangre,” 47, a citizen of Colombia, guilty of conspiring to...

(MIAMI) - Honduran national Sergio Neftali Mejia-Duarte - was sentenced today to life in prison for his involvement in a large-scale international narcotics transportation organization. On January 9, 2018, a Miami jury found Mejia-Duarte, 41, guilty of conspiring to distribute over five kilograms of cocaine with the knowledge that the...