United States Drug Enforcement Administration

HOUSTON - With a final plea today three Houston men have now been convicted for their roles in a $1 million narcotics trafficking conspiracy, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez. Today, Robert Ashleigh Whitten, 38, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. Lalo Buddy Perez, 26...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Adrian A. Douglas, 48, of Columbus, pled guilty today in U.S. District Court to conspire to distribute more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Douglas led a Central Ohio marijuana trafficking ring that involved receiving UPS shipments of the drug from Las...

DAYTON, Ohio - Antonio J. Spiva, 25, and Charles M. McBeath, 33, both of Dayton, were sentenced in U.S. District Court this week for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin and fentanyl that resulted in the death of at least two individuals. Each defendant pled guilty in January...

LAREDO, Texas - A 41-year-old man from Laredo, has been ordered to prison following his conviction of the conspiracy possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez. Esequiel Villarreal pleaded guilty Dec. 15, 2016. Today, U.S. District Judge Diana Saldana ordered Villarreal to serve a 210-month-term...

LAREDO, Texas - A 46-year-old woman has been ordered to federal prison following her conviction for importing methamphetamine into the United States, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez. Sherie Lyn De Sylvia, a U.S. citizen who resided in Tijuana, Mexico, pled guilty February 22, 2017. Today, U.S. District Judge Marina...

BEAUMONT, Texas - A 43-year-old federal prison chaplain has been sentenced for federal violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston today. Eric S. Patrick, of Nederland, Texas pled guilty on January 19, 2017, to bribery of a public official and was sentenced to one...

LAREDO, Texas - The head of a marijuana trafficking cell, Mexican National Armando Javier Picazo Jimenez, 42, has pled guilty for his role in a conspiracy to traffic drugs from Laredo to the Dallas area via the use of tractor trailers, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez. In August 2013...

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - An indictment charging the former Tabasco, Mexico, Secretary of Finance has been unsealed following the arrest of his wife in the Houston area, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez. Jose Manuel Saiz-Pineda, 49, served as the Secretary of Finance of the Mexican State of Tabasco from...

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Miguel David Ayala, 38, of Cynthiana, Kentucky, was convicted yesterday by a federal jury of pharmacy robbery and possession with intent to distribute Hydrocodone pills. The jury returned the verdict after a 3-day trial. The evidence established that on July 8th, 2015 Ayala robbed the Rite Aid...

MCALLEN, Texas - The final two of four men involved in stealing 246 kilograms of marijuana, some of whom also conspired to carry and use a firearm during and in relation to that crime, have been ordered to prison, announced DEA Special Agent-in-Charge of the Houston Division Joseph M. Arabit...