LYNCHBURG, Va. – A former veterinarian, who admitted to stealing opioids, was sentenced today to eight months in federal prison. Patrick Gries, 54, of Madison Heights, Virginia, pleaded guilty in January 2022 to one count of adulteration of a drug held for sale after shipment in interstate commerce and one...

ABINGDON, Va. – Sovah Health has agreed to pay the United States $4.36 million to settle claims that the hospital system violated the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) on numerous occasions between 2017 and 2020. As part of the resolution, Sovah Health further agreed to be subject to a period of...

HARRISONBURG, Va. – Abdallah Amer Ali, 21, of Harrisonburg, sold a fatal dose of fentanyl to a 16-year-old in Harrisonburg and pled guilty to one count of distributing a measurable quantity of fentanyl which resulted in death. “With overdose deaths on a rampant rise across the country, we often focus...

ABINGDON, Va. – The owner of a supplement company, that manufactured and shipped unapproved drugs and illegal steroids for use by members of the bodybuilding community, pled guilty this week to a pair of federal drug charges. John Franklin Cochcroft, 37, of Lexington, South Carolina, waived his right to be...

ABINGDON, Va. – A Tennessee woman, who was part of a conspiracy that trafficked methamphetamine from Mexico into Southwest Virginia, was sentenced last week to 156 months in federal prison. Jessica Nicole Kent, 35, of Bristol, TN, pleaded guilty in September 2021 to one count of conspiring to distribute 50...

ABINGDON, Va. – A Smyth County man, who ordered approximately 30,000 fentanyl pills from California and sold them in Southwest Virginia, pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court. Zachary Ryan Hutton, 21, of Marion, Virginia, pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of knowingly possessing with the intent to distribute and...

SAN FRANCISCO – Alex Murillo appeared in federal court today and was ordered detained in custody on charges of distribution of fentanyl and methamphetamine, announced United States Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Wade R. Shannon. Murillo, 26, who resides in Oakland, was...

NEW YORK – A court authorized search of an apartment in the Mount Hope neighborhood of the Bronx resulted in the seizure of approximately 110 kilograms of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine, plus 50 pounds of a substance believed to be crystal meth and up to 75,000 counterfeit pills believed to...

EL PASO, Texas – An El Paso man was sentenced today to 293 months in federal prison for his role in two deaths resulting from a fentanyl-laced cocaine overdose in November 2017. On February 24, 2022, Paris Lamont Dennis, 39, pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of a controlled...

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Alfred A. Cooke, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Merrillville, Indiana, and U.S. Attorney Clifford D. Johnson of the Northern District of Indiana announced that Steven J. Hecke, 37, of Fort Wayne, was found guilty following a five-day jury trial presided over by...