CHICAGO – Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terrance C. Cole has appointed Todd C. Smith as the new Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the DEA Chicago Field Division. SAC Smith succeeds Shane R. Catone, who was appointed by DEA Administrator Cole as the Associate Chief of Operations (ACO) for the...

SPOKANE, Wash.– United States District Judge Mary K. Dimke sentenced Kenneth H. Crause, age 55, to 204 months in federal prison after Crause pleaded guilty to Possession with Intent to Deliver 400 Grams or More of Fentanyl. Judge Dimke also ordered that, following his sentence, Crause be placed on a...

OMAHA – Throughout 2022, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Omaha Division seized nearly 4.7 million lethal doses of fentanyl in both pill and powder form. Nationally, DEA investigators reported seizing more than 379 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl in a 12 month span, enough to kill every American. “The...

NEWARK, N.J. – In a civil complaint filed today, the Department of Justice alleges that AmerisourceBergen Corp. and two of its subsidiaries, AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp. and Integrated Commercialization Solutions LLC (AmerisourceBergen), collectively one of the country’s largest wholesale pharmaceutical distributors and one of the largest companies in America by revenue...

TUCSON, Ariz. - A federal grand jury in Tucson, Arizona, returned a 19-count indictment on November 10, 2022, against 10 current or former southern Arizona residents, including: Alberto Gabriel Aranda-Ramon, 31, of Tucson, Arizona Michele Oller, 54, of Tucson, Arizona Larry William Nelson, Jr., 51, of Arizona Ashley Yvonne Maxwell...

TUCSON, Ariz. - Ramon Antonio Monreal-Rodriguez, 36, of Vail, Arizona, was sentenced on December 14, by United States District Judge James A. Soto, to 152 months in prison and ordered to pay $151,000 in restitution to the U.S. Border Patrol for salary drawn while engaged in criminal activity. Monreal-Rodriguez previously...

HOUSTON – As 2022 comes to an end, the Drug Enforcement Administration Houston Field Division is announcing the seizure of over 670,000 fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills and more than 230 pounds of fentanyl powder this year. The DEA Laboratory estimates that these seizures represent more than 7 million potentially deadly...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A St. Louis man pleaded guilty in federal court today to his role in a conspiracy to distribute kilogram-quantities of heroin in the Springfield, Mo., area. Alphonso L. Battle, 55, pleaded guilty before U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge David P. Rush to participating in a conspiracy to distribute...

SAN DIEGO - Terese L. White, a flight attendant residing in Dallas, Texas, has pleaded guilty in federal court to a drug-trafficking charge, admitting that she used her privileges as a flight attendant to bypass the more robust security screening process at San Diego International Airport in order to smuggle...

RALEIGH, N.C. – A Robeson County woman was sentenced Dec. 21, 2022 to 300 months in prison for conspiring to distribute four hundred grams or more of fentanyl and for possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. On April 7, 2022, Jania Delicia Leggett, 28, pled guilty to...