WASHINGTON – A former Venezuelan government minister and a former officer at Venezuela’s state-owned and state-controlled electricity company, Corporación Eléctrica Nacional, S.A. (Corpoelec), were charged in an indictment returned today for their alleged roles in laundering the proceeds of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in connection with...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Omil Cotto, 33, of Albuquerque, pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to charges of methamphetamine possession with the intent to distribute and using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime. The evidence acquired during the investigation shows that at approximately 2:39...

TAMPA, Fla. - A federal jury has found Dion Gregory Fisher (33, formerly of Seminole) guilty of conspiring to manufacture and distribute fentanyl and fentanyl analogue, and money laundering. Because Fisher was convicted of distributing more than 400 grams of fentanyl and more than 100 grams of fentanyl analogue, he...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Pawankumar Jain, 66, a former physician, was sentenced today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to 108 months in prison and three years of supervised release for unlawfully dispensing controlled substances and health care fraud. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney John C. Anderson, DEA...

PHOENIX – The DEA’s Phoenix Field Division has finished calculating the amount of drugs collected from those agencies who participated in the April 27th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. Arizonans turned out in massive numbers and disposed of 10,915.69 pounds, over five tons, of prescription drugs. “The citizens of...

OMAHA, Neb.,– The United States Drug Enforcement Administration collected nearly 469 tons of unwanted medication at the 17th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day event, April 27, with a record-setting 6,398 sites hosted by more than 5,000 law enforcement partners. In Nebraska, 5,661 pounds of potentially dangerous and unwanted drugs...

SAN DIEGO and IMPERIAL, Calif. – With enthusiastic participation nationwide, DEA and its law enforcement partners have now collected nearly 12 million pounds of unused or expired prescription medications over the course of 17 successful DEA National Prescription Drug Take Back events. During the 17th semiannual event on April 27...

PHOENIX – DEA announces the 17th National Prescription Drug Take Back will be held April 27, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. local time. Sites will be set up throughout communities nationwide so local residents can anonymously return their unwanted, unneeded or expired prescription drugs for safe disposal. (DEA cannot...

BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- Earlier today, following a two-week trial, a federal jury in Brooklyn returned a guilty verdict against Humberto Baez for conspiring to import and distribute cocaine, and for possessing with intent to distribute cocaine, in connection with his participation in a scheme responsible for smuggling 16 kilograms of...

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Ten people are facing federal drug trafficking charges in New Mexico following an 11-month investigation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Lea County Drug Task Force. Teams of federal, state, county and local law enforcement officers conducted a major law enforcement operation on Thursday...