LOS ANGELES – The Drug Enforcement Administration Los Angeles Field Division today announced the results of a multi-agency investigation targeting a Sinaloa drug trafficking network operating within the Inland Empire. Operation “Hotline Bling,” which started in early 2023, culminated last week with 15 arrests and significant drug seizures, including methamphetamine...

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...

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...

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...

Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, a two-count indictment was unsealed charging Ryan Mueller, of Lynbrook, New York, with distributing fentanyl that caused the death of a victim (Victim‑1) and with conspiring to distribute heroin, cocaine, and oxycodone. Mueller was arrested this morning and is scheduled to...

ALBUQUERQUE – Three of the eight defendants indicted following a joint enforcement operation last year in Carlsbad, pleaded guilty in federal court to federal drug offenses. Carlos Venegas, Jr., 24, of Carlsbad, pleaded guilty on March 4, 2024, to one count each of conspiracy to distribute 50 grams and more...

MADISON, Wis. – John McGarry, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Milwaukee and U.S. Attorney Timothy M. O’Shea for the Western District of Wisconsin announced that Stanley J. Holte, 34, Coon Valley, Wisconsin, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to 11 ½ years...

ALBUQUERQUE – A federal judge sentenced an Albuquerque man to 57 months in federal prison for maintaining a drug-involved premises in southeast Albuquerque. As the manager of the Best Choice Inn, Kamal Bhula, 44, of Albuquerque, profited from in a kickback scheme that required drug traffickers and users to pay...

BOISE, Idaho – Tyler Watson, 40, of Nampa, was sentenced to 188 months in federal prison for possessing ten pounds of fentanyl with intent to distribute it to others, U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit announced today. According to court records, Watson was a mid-level fentanyl distributor for a large drug trafficking...