EL PASO – On Sunday, August 21, the Drug Enforcement Administration will recognize National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day by joining the many voices dedicated to educating the public on the serious dangers of fentanyl poisoning from fake pills and other illicit drugs. DEA supports the efforts of several organizations...

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – DEA Special Agent in Charge, Eduardo A. Chávez announced Attorney General John O’Connor filed charges in Oklahoma County against a couple in the death of their 6-year-old son. Harold Belton, 47, and Grashaunda Brooks, 44, are each charged with one count of second-degree murder. Investigators note...

BRADFORD, Vt. - Amy J. Vickers, 44, of Bradford, Vermont was arrested today on a complaint charging her with obtaining controlled substances by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception or subterfuge, U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young announced. According to the complaint, on June 17, 2022, Vickers was working as a nurse at...

STAMFORD, Conn. - Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that two Stamford residents who manufactured and distributed counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl analogues were sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport. ARBER ISAKU, 32, was sentenced to 51 months...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, announced that John Seibel was sentenced on Aug. 2 to 17 years and six months in prison. Seibel, 26, of Albuquerque, pleaded guilty on March 15 to two counts of distribution of 50 grams and...

NEWARK, N.J. – Susan A. Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division, Scott J. Lampert, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations-New Jersey Field Office, Patrick J. Hegarty, Defense Criminal Investigative...

SPOKANE, Wash. – Vanessa R. Waldref, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced today that Esther Rae Tuller, age 41, of Moses Lake, Washington, was sentenced today in federal court in Spokane for tampering with morphine medication while working as a registered nurse. Chief United States...

LOS ANGELES – A Paso Robles man has been arrested on federal charges of selling counterfeit prescription pills containing fentanyl to a 19-year-old Atascadero resident who suffered a fatal overdose from the synthetic opioid, the Justice Department announced today. Timothy Clark Wolfe, 24, was taken into custody Thursday by special...

WASHINGTON – A federal court issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting a Tampa-area physician from prescribing opioids and other controlled substances, the Department of Justice announced today. In a complaint filed on July 18, and unsealed yesterday, the United States alleges that Dr. Neelam Taneja Uppal unlawfully wrote opioid prescriptions...

MINNEAPOLIS – A Minneapolis woman has pleaded guilty to misappropriating and adulterating prescription morphine while working as a pharmacist. According to court documents, on October 30, 2019, Jennifer Lee Draheim, 42, a pharmacist at Coburn’s Pharmacy in Ramsey, removed a bottle of morphine sulfate from the Scheduled Drug Cabinet and...