United States Drug Enforcement Administration

- PHOENIX, AZ. - Luis Nevarez-Meneses, 27, of Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. Chief Judge Roslyn O. Silverto more than 12 years in prison. Nevarez-Meneses pleaded guilty on June 14, 2011, to Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Five or More Kilograms of Cocaine. Nevarez-Meneses was one...

- PHOENIX, AZ. - PHOENIX - On September 9, 2011, the Drug Enforcement (DEA), in conjunction with the Homeland Security (HIS) Strike Force Group, arrested two individuals and seized 57.2 pounds of Cocaine. A weapon was also found with the drugs. The investigation targeted a Mexican drug trafficking organization that...

- PHOENIX, AZ. - Arnoldo Zazueta-Miranda, 36, of Mexico, was sentenced last week by U.S. District Judge Frederick J. Martone to 20 years in federal prison. A federal jury convicted Zazueta-Miranda of several charges including, Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute Cocaine, Methamphetamine, Crack Cocaine, and Heroin; Conspiracy to...

DENVER, CO. - Kevin R. Merrill, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement (DEA), Luis Velez, Chief, Pueblo Police Department, and Bill Thiebaut, District Attorney, Colorado’s Tenth Judicial District, announced today the successful completion of a major heroin investigation with the arrest of 24 defendants. There are an additional five...

DENVER, CO. - Two Western Colorado doctors, Sam Jahani, M.D., 49, of Cleveland, Texas, and Eric Peper, D.O., 53, of Summerland Key, Florida, were indicted by a federal grand jury on August 3, 2011 on charges related to health care fraud, money laundering and dispensing controlled substances in which four...

- PHOENIX, AZ. - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Acting Special Agent in Charge Doug Coleman and U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, Dennis K. Burke, announced today that Walgreens Arizona Drug Co., on behalf of its wholly owned retail pharmacy in Show Low, Ariz., has agreed to pay the federal...

- TUCSON, AZ. - Elias Guerrero-Esquer, 44, of Rio Rico, Ariz., was sentenced on July 21, 2011, to 120 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Frank R. Zapata. Guerrero-Esquer had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana and admitted...

ST. GEORGE, UT. - The Drug Enforcement (DEA) announced today that on July 16, 2011, the DEA, along with other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, seized 13,806 marijuana plants found growing in the mountains outside of Veyo, Utah, and arrested 38 defendants who were in the process of...

DENVER, CO. - Louis Hampers, MD, of Denver, pled guilty this morning before U.S. District Court Judge Robert E. Blackburn to 14 counts of obtaining a controlled substance, hydrocodone, by misrepresentation, fraud, deception or subterfuge. Hampers, who was present at today’s hearing, is on 24-hour home detention. Judge Blackburn is...

- TUCSON, AZ. - Victor A. Flores, 51, pleaded guilty on Thursday to conspiring with others to possess with intent to distribute in excess of 8 tons of cocaine. The cocaine had been smuggled into the United States through a tunnel that extended into Naco, Ariz, from Mexico. The investigation...