United States Drug Enforcement Administration

TAMPA, FL – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that Jorge Hernan Gonzalez-Ortiz, 50, of Colombia, and Carlos Andres Aldana-Gil, 43, also of Colombia, have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States. Each faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison. A sentencing date...

MIAMI – Four South Florida residents have been sentenced to federal prison for distributing fentanyl and meth. On Jan. 16, Gito St. Fort, 35, of West Palm Beach, Fla., a career criminal, was sentenced to 320 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to distribution of a controlled substance resulting...

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is announcing three new rules to make permanent some temporary telemedicine flexibilities established during the COVID-19 public health emergency while also establishing new patient protections. In developing these rules, DEA has focused on the patient to ensure telemedicine is accessible for medical care...

MIAMI– On Dec. 10, Blake Alfonso Kolessa, 27, of Greenacres, Fla., was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks for possessing with intent to distribute metonitazene, N-desethyl isotonitazene, and methamphetamine. Kolessa previously pled guilty...

Orlando, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that a federal jury has found Billy Ruiz (46, California) guilty of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and distribution and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Ruiz faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison on each count. His...

HARTFORD, Conn. - Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that TARA SEVERINO, 58, of West Haven, has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny in Hartford to two years of probation, the first six months of which Severino must serve...

WASHINGTON – Operation OD Justice is a DEA initiative born out of a critical need to investigate drug poisoning and overdose deaths across the U.S. The initiative, launched in 2021 by DEA’s Los Angeles and San Diego Field Divisions, offers training, resources, and poisoning response coordinators to assist State and...

BOSTON – A Haverhill man has been sentenced for distributing tens of thousands of pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine. Angel Joel Diaz, a/k/a “Guero,” 36, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to nine years in prison. In April 2024, Diaz pleaded guilty to one count of...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Robert Fuller, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that on November 25, 2024, a federal grand jury in New Haven returned a nine-count indictment...

BOSTON – A Cranston, R.I. man was sentenced in federal court in Boston for his involvement in a drug trafficking organization (DTO) that distributed fentanyl throughout Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Mario Rafael Dominguez-Ortiz, 27, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs to one year and a...