United States Drug Enforcement Administration

Baltimore, Md., – U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman has approved a consent decree that permanently enjoins Elizabeth J. Allen, a Baltimore-based physician assistant, from prescribing opioids and other controlled substances, resolving the United States’ civil allegations that Allen violated the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) in illegally prescribing opioids. Under...

Greenbelt, Md., – Edwin Kerry Smith, age 43, of Silver Spring, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and admitted that heroin he distributed to one victim resulted in the victim’s fatal overdose. The guilty plea was announced by Jarod Forget, Special Agent in...

Washington, D.C. – Today, Jarod Forget, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Washington Division issued a Public Safety Alert warning Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. residents of the alarming increase in the lethality and availability of fake prescription pills containing fentanyl in our area. This DEA Public Safety Alert...

Charles County, Md., - On September 3, 2021 members of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Washington Division's Tactical Diversion Squad along with the Charles County Sheriff’s Office arrested Vincent Ippolito, 62, of Waldorf, and Denise Marie Shifflett, 45, of La Plata, in connection with illegally distributing drugs and narcotics. Ippolito...

Baltimore, Md., – U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced William Soyke, age 68, of Hanover, Pennsylvania to 37 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute and dispense oxycodone, fentanyl, methadone, and alprazolam outside the scope of professional practice and not for...

ALEXANDRIA, Va., – A Georgia man pleaded guilty yesterday to distributing illicit prescription drugs over the Darknet and shipping them across the country via the U.S Postal Service. According to court documents, from around April 2020 through October 2020, Cullen Roberts, 23, of Duluth, Georgia, used the moniker “Pillpusher” to...

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., – A dermatologist formerly employed at a dermatological practice in the City of Charlottesville was sentenced last week to 12 months probation, including a period of home confinement and electronic monitoring, for using the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration number of her co-workers to obtain prescription opioid pain...

ABINGDON, Va., – A Dobson, North Carolina man pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiring to distribute medically illegitimate prescriptions for Schedule II opioids and Suboxone, as well as conspiring to use, in the course of the distribution of controlled substances, the DEA registration number of another person. According to court documents...

Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Ana Christina Avalos a/k/a “Christina Cazares-Quintero”, age 35, of Phelan, California, to 57 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute controlled substances. The sentence was announced by...

Washington, D.C. – Jarod Forget, Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the DEA Washington Division, is alerting all area residents to an increase in drug overdose deaths tied to counterfeit pills containing the powerful synthetic opioid, fentanyl. Manufactured by Mexican drug trafficking organizations, and marketed as a medication such as...