United States Drug Enforcement Administration

STATESBORO, GA: Two newly unsealed federal indictments charge 23 defendants in widespread conspiracies that used drones to deliver methamphetamine, marijuana, and cell phones to Georgia state prisons. The indictments, USA v. Hall, et al, and USA v. Harris, et al, were unsealed in U.S. District Court, said Jill E. Steinberg...

ELIZABETH CITY , N.C. – A Tarboro man was sentenced to 96 months in prison for armed drug trafficking. On March 5, 2024, Drako Butler, age 35, pled guilty to the charges. “Narcotics, guns, and money are a recipe for disaster,” said U.S. Attorney Michael Easley. “This Tarboro drug trafficker...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Benjamin James Hemphill, 24, of Charlotte, was sentenced today to 60 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release today for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina...

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Hector Manuel Cruz, Jr., 29, of Chandler, was sentenced last week by United States District Judge G. Murray Snow to 15 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release. On April 25, 2023, Cruz pleaded guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine. Co-defendant Konstantin...

SAVANNAH, GA: A Laurens County, Ga., man identified as a drug supplier in a Southeastern drug trafficking organization has been sentenced to federal prison, and his four co-defendants are serving prison terms after all pled guilty to charges related to the conspiracy. Dennis Rodriguez Kinchen, 46, of Dublin, Ga., was...

SAVANNAH, GA: The leader of a drug trafficking conspiracy that distributed kilos of cocaine and large amounts of other illegal drugs throughout the coastal Georgia area has been sentenced to more than 25 years in federal prison, concluding prosecution of Operation Deadlier Catch. Joseph Bulloch, a/k/a “Lil Joe,” 34, of...

TUCSON, Ariz. – Jonathan Edward Mayer, 22, of Tacoma, Washington, was sentenced on June 30, 2023, by U.S. District Judge Scott H. Rash to 84 months in prison. Mayer previously pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute Marijuana, Possession with Intent to Distribute Marijuana, Possession of a...

ASHEVILLE, NC – U.S. Attorney Dena J. King announced today that Benjamin Dann Owens, 36, of Hayesville, N.C., was sentenced to 312 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl, methamphetamine, Oxycodone, and other narcotics as...

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA — Patricia Ann Hemphill, 51, of Rock Hill, was sentenced to 3 years in federal prison after pleading guilty relating to a multi-state drug operation out of the Rock Hill and Charlotte, North Carolina area. Evidence presented to the Court showed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation...

STATESBORO, GA: A newly unsealed federal indictment charges nearly three dozen defendants for their involvement in a drug trafficking conspiracy centered in south Georgia and reaching into the Caribbean. The primary conspiracy charge in USA v. Morales-Jimenez et. al, dubbed Operation Carpet Ride, carries a statutory minimum penalty of 10...