United States Drug Enforcement Administration

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Chief U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney sentenced late yesterday Alberto Diaz-Fernandez, 55, of Santa Ana, California, to 121 months in prison and four years of supervised release on drug conspiracy charges, announced Jill Westmoreland Rose, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Daniel R...

FORT SMITH, Ark. - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam and Kenneth Elser, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced that 12 defendants who were all part of a drug trafficking organization in the Fort Smith area were sentenced to federal prison this...

BATON ROUGE, La. - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam and United States Attorney Walt Green announced yet another conviction arising from Operation Goldy Locks, an extensive investigation into a multi-state heroin enterprise. Efrain Barajas, 27, of Hesperia, California, pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy to distribute...

NEW ORLEANS - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam and U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced the recent unsealing of a Superseding Indictment charging an array of federal narcotics and firearm violations by members of a drug trafficking organization operating in south Louisiana. The Superseding Indictment...

SHREVEPORT, La. - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge Eric Watson and United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced that a Shreveport man was sentenced this week to 240 months in prison for possessing methamphetamine, which he intended to sell. Lloyd E. Barmore, 34, of Shreveport, was...

LAFAYETTE, La. - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge Eric Watson and United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that a Texas man was sentenced to 120 months in prison for his role in a methamphetamine distribution conspiracy in Lafayette, New Iberia and the surrounding areas...

SHREVEPORT, La. - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge Eric Watson and United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that two Texas men were sentenced for conspiring to transport approximately 28 kilograms of powder cocaine. Ricardo Garcia, 28, and Jesus Christian Martinez, 34, both of Brownsville...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Joel Elias Gonzalez, 53, formerly of Franklin, N.C. was sentenced yesterday to 151 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for trafficking large quantities of crystal methamphetamine, announced Jill Westmoreland Rose, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Gonzalez pleaded guilty in...

BATON ROUGE, La. - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge Eric Watson and United States Attorney Walt Green announced today that two more defendants have been convicted in Operation Goldy Locks for their roles in a multi-state heroin ring which involved disguising heroin as oxycodone pills in...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Dr. Robert M. Ritchea, 53, of LaGrange, Georgia, was arrested yesterday after being indicted by a federal grand jury, announced Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam and George L. Beck, Jr, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama. Dr. Ritchea, who...