United States Drug Enforcement Administration

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Four defendants were arrested on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2016, on charges related to running a marijuana ring between Tucson, Ariz. and Columbus, Ohio. Investigators have seized more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana and more than $1.2 million in cash in connection with the investigation. Carter M. Stewart...

DETROIT - Marcus Coates, 36, formerly of Detroit, Michigan, was sentenced today to 72 months in federal prison for his role in a money laundering conspiracy, announced United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade. McQuade was joined in the announcement by Joseph P. Reagan the Special Agent in Charge of the...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - William J. Pate, 45, of Columbus, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 15 years in prison for possessing cocaine and firearms in furtherance of distributing drugs. Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Joseph P. Reagan, Special Agent in Charge...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Simon Velazquez-Gonzalez, 27, formerly of Hilliard, Ohio was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 170 months in prison for his role in trafficking more than nine kilograms of methamphetamine. During this investigation, U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA) Agents seized more than 20 pounds of “ice,” a highly potent...

MARQUETTE, Mich. - Richard Jon Hill, age 39, known in the Ironwood, Michigan area as “Rock Star Rick,” was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison for his conviction on federal drug charges. The sentence represents the culmination of a two-year investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA) and the...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Richard Spriggs, Sr., 47, of Columbus, was sentenced on December 2, in U.S. District Court to 46 months in prison. Spriggs’ sentence was the result of his conviction for conspiring to possess with intent to distribute marijuana, conspiring to commit money laundering and for the unlawful possession...

DENVER - Raul Mendoza, 51, of Denver, Colorado was sentenced on November 20, 2015 by U.S. District Court Judge R. Brooke Jackson to serve 48 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, the United States Attorney John Walsh announced, along with Special Agents in Charge of...

Investigations continue into criminal organizations from out-of-state conducting illegal grows and cultivation in Colorado DENVER - A federal grand jury has indicted two individuals who, after investigation, were found tending to a large marijuana grow in western Colorado, DEA Denver Division Special Agent in Charge Barbra Roach and U.S. Attorney...

DETROIT - A physician who practiced in Warren, Michigan, was sentenced to 84 months in prison today for writing prescriptions for oxycodone and other controlled medications without medical justification, and for health care fraud. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade, U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent...

LORAIN COUNTY, Ohio - Several indictments regarding drug trafficking and firearms crimes in Lorain County were recently unsealed in federal court as part of an ongoing coordinated enforcement initiative, law enforcement officials said. The indictments were announced by U.S. Attorney Steven M. Dettelbach, Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will, U.S. Drug...