TAMPA, Fla. – Six individuals who are part of the Fernando Pineda-Jimenez Transnational Criminal Organization have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a conspiracy to distribute cocaine using vessels subject to the jurisdiction of the United States (U.S.). Fernando Pineda-Jimenez, a/k/a “Padrino,” 40, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy...

ABINGDON, Va. – A Bristol, Virginia man was sentenced last week to 21 and a half years in prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. According to court documents, Paul D. Crone, 56, conspired with others to traffic approximately 45...

DALLAS – A Mexican national and high-ranking member of the Los Zetas cartel received a life sentence for drug trafficking violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced DEA Special Agent in Charge Eduardo A. Chávez today. Hugo Cesar Roman-Chavarria, also known as “El Vecino,” pleaded guilty on August 23...

SEATTLE – Dr. Gerald Lee, a Seattle physician, has agreed to pay $150,000 to resolve allegations that he violated the Controlled Substances Act and False Claims Act. Specifically, the United States alleges that from January 2016 to September 2017, Dr. Lee violated the Controlled Substances Act by writing 23 prescriptions...

LUBBOCK, TX - Forty defendants – including 15 arrested in Wednesday’s “Operation Taste the Rainbow” in Lubbock – have been charged with gun and drug crimes, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah. The men and women, all allegedly tied to methamphetamine trafficking in and around Lubbock, have been charged in...

INDIANAPOLIS - Assistant Special Agent in Charge Michael Gannon, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Indianapolis, and Acting U.S. Attorney John E. Childress of the Southern District of Indiana announced that a drug trafficking ring consisting of at least 24 people have been sentenced in federal court. The organization operated in and around...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Jonesboro, Mississippi, man was sentenced in federal court today for transporting more than five pounds of methamphetamine and nearly three pounds of heroin through Kansas City, Missouri, enroute to St. Louis. Willie Lewis Braison, 48, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes to...

MIAMI – Several Highlands County men have been sentenced in South Florida federal district court to prison terms for their roles in a powder and crack cocaine drug trafficking ring that had become entrenched in the Lake Placid neighborhood of Highway Park, Florida. A law enforcement operation handled by the...

PEORIA, Ill. – Special Agent in Charge Robert J. Bell, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Chicago Division, and Acting U.S. Attorney Douglas J. Quivey of the Central District of Illinois announced that Harold Shane Koch, 42, of Pekin, Illinois, was sentenced on Sept. 9, 2021, to 20 years in federal prison, to...

NEW YORK – Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s New York Division and New York Attorney General Letitia James announced today the arrests of 12 individuals for their roles in a drug trafficking operation that transported cocaine from Puerto Rico to Buffalo and other...