MINNEAPOLIS – United States Attorney Daniel N. Rosen announced that Steve Michael Kelley, 58, a former nurse who worked at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Minneapolis, was indicted by grand jury for one count of obtaining controlled substances by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception, or subterfuge. His initial appearance was...

CONCORD, N.H. – Massachusetts pharmacist Rima Gerges-Maalouf, 60, pleaded guilty in Federal Court to diverting controlled prescription drugs while working as a pharmacist in New Hampshire, U.S. Attorney Erin Creegan announces. As set forth in the plea agreement, in August 2024, Gerges-Maalouf served as a per diem pharmacist at a...

BOISE, Idaho – Andrew Rumbo-Ochoa, 28, of Santa Clara, California, was sentenced to 92 months in federal prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. According to the investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and U. S. Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigation, Rumbo-Ochoa...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A North Carolina physician has been sentenced to prison for conspiring to allow his Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration number to be used for thousands of unlawful buprenorphine prescriptions, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell...

MOBILE, AL – A federal grand jury in Mobile returned an indictment charging four Arizona residents with a yearslong anabolic steroids-trafficking conspiracy. According to court documents, Laura Stratton, 43, of Phoenix, Arizona, Brenna Eppley, 48, of Buckeye, Arizona, Benjamin Stratton, 39, of Avondale, Arizona, and Karissa Stratton, 33, of Avondale...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – United States Attorney Moore Capito announced this week that MWI Veterinary Supply Inc. (MWI) has agreed to pay $100,000 to resolve allegations it failed to identify large oxycodone HCL orders from a Putnam County, West Virginia, veterinarian as suspicious or flag them to authorities, resulting in abuse...

WHEELING, Wv. — The United States Attorney’s Offices for the Northern and Southern Districts of West Virginia announced today that West Virginia United Health System, Inc., doing business as West Virginia University Health System (WVUHS), has agreed to pay $4,177,139 and enter a Memorandum of Agreement to resolve civil allegations...

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A Missouri woman’s crimes to get illegal access to prescription narcotics resulted in the loss of her nursing license and gained her a lifetime ban from working at any hospital that receives federal funding. According to court documents, Brooke Haller, 41, of Kansas City, Missouri, pleaded...

Orlando, FL – Plaza Pharmacy, LLC and Paul Ezeobinwa have agreed to pay the United States $50,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the Controlled Substances Act by improperly distributing schedule V drugs and committing multiple recordkeeping violations. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement. “Our Diversion investigators will...

San Francisco – United States Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) Administrator Terrance Cole, DEA San Francisco Division Special Agent in Charge Bob Beris, DEA Northeast Associate Chief of Operations Frank Tarentino, DEA New York Enforcement Division Special Agent in Charge Farhana Islam, along with our law enforcement partners Homeland Security Investigations...