ALBUQUERQUE – The last of the eight defendants indicted following a joint law enforcement operation in Carlsbad last year pleaded guilty to federal drug offenses in federal court yesterday. Jesus Alonso Cerezo-Espidio , 51, of Carlsbad, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute 5 grams and more of...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A Texas man was sentenced to six and a half years in prison and three years supervised release for trafficking more than 21 kilograms of the drug known as Spice from Texas to Alaska. “Spice” is a generic term for synthetic cannabinoids, which are mind-altering chemicals that...

ALBUQUERQUE – A Mexican national was convicted by a federal jury of drug trafficking and firearms offenses after less than 22 minutes of deliberation. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, on February 22, 2022 , Albuquerque Police Department Officers (APD) were dispatched to a stolen vehicle call...

YAKIMA, Wash. – United States Attorney Vanessa R. Waldref announced today that twenty-eight people are in state or federal custody following the return of six separate indictments alleging more than two dozen charges against thirty-four separate defendants. The arrests follow a long-term joint federal and state investigation led by the...

SEATTLE – The final defendant in a large drug trafficking ring was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 108 months in prison for trafficking drugs while armed with a firearm, announced U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. Juan de Dios Alcaraz-Mardueno was a drug redistributor and interstate transporter...

BOSTON – Two men pleaded guilty last week in federal court in Boston to participating in a North Shore-based drug trafficking organization (DTO) that allegedly distributed tens of thousands of counterfeit prescription pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine. Kion Shepherd, 33, of Salem and Raymond Kulakowski, 36, of Lynn pleaded guilty...

MILWAUKEE, Wis. - John McGarry, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Milwaukee and Gregory J. Haanstad, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, announced that on April 11, 2024, Herlin Hernandez-Trinidad, a/k/a “Rainely” (age: 29) of Miches, Dominican Republic, pled guilty to conspiring to possess...

ALBUQUERQUE – A Carlsbad man was sentenced to 240 months in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of possession with intent to distribute 50 grams and more of methamphetamine and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. Manuel Pineda Montoya , 44, was...

OAKLAND, Calif. - A federal grand jury has charged two defendants with various crimes, including one defendant with extortion and assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon, announced United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey; Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Brian M. Clark; Federal Bureau of Investigation...

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York; Frank A. Tarentino III, the Special Agent in Charge of the New York Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”); and Darren B. McCormack, the Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of...