DEA Archived Press Releases

Press Releases before January 20, 2025
1056 Results - Showing 551 to 560
PRESS RELEASE

22 Charged, 7 Arrested In Major Los Angeles Strike Force Investigation

LOS ANGELES - A major narcotics trafficking indictment resulting from an investigation by the Los Angeles Strike Force was unsealed today as authorities arrested seven defendants charged with drug trafficking, money laundering and weapons offenses. The indictment charges a total of 22 defendants who allegedly were members of a drug...
PRESS RELEASE

Task Force Investigation Targets Leadership Of MS-13, Including Former Top ‘Shot-Caller’ Of L.A. Faction, A Dozen ‘Shot-Callers’ Who Supervised Cliques And Three Members Accused Of Murder

LOS ANGELES - Capping a nearly three-year investigation, federal, state and local law enforcement authorities this morning took into custody a total of 21 members and associates of Mara Salvatrucha, a transnational criminal street gang commonly called MS-13 that was formed in Los Angeles about 30 years ago. Those arrested...
PRESS RELEASE

Two Charged And Two Sentenced In Scheme To Sell Narcotics On Dark Web

MAY 11 - MIAMI, Fla. - Joshua J. Kelly, aka “Ustous,” 32, of Cape Girardeau, Mo., was charged by criminal complaint today with one count of conspiracy to distribute in narcotics, in and one count of conspiracy to launder money. Kelly becomes the fourth defendant in separate but related cases...
PRESS RELEASE

DEA Brings In Record Amount Of Unused Prescription Drugs On National Prescription Take Back Day

LOS ANGELES - The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and more than 4,200 of its law enforcement and community partners collected more unused prescription drugs than at any of the 12 previous National Prescription Drug Take Back Day events. On Saturday, April 29, the event brought in 900,386 (450 tons) at...
PRESS RELEASE

Two Charged With Attempting To Smuggle Half A Million In Heroin Through LAX

LOS ANGELES - Two men were arrested Tuesday at Los Angeles International Airport and charged in federal court with attempting to smuggle heroin in luggage on two commercial airline flights. Cristian Santos, 21, of Compton, California was arrested by special agents with the Drug Enforcement (DEA) after boarding a Delta...
PRESS RELEASE

Eight Violent Drug Traffickers Charged With Six Murders And Multiple Trafficking, Firearms And Racketeering Offenses

MAY 02 - MIAMI, Fla. - Eight members and associates of La Organizacion de Narcotraficantes (La ONU) were named today in an unsealed indictment charging them with six murders and multiple counts of racketeering, drug trafficking, and firearms offenses. Adolphus P. Wright, the Special Agent in Charge of the Miami...
PRESS RELEASE

DEA Continues Its Drug Abuse Prevention Efforts With Prescription Drug Take Back Day This Saturday

LOS ANGELES - Addictive prescription drugs that are thrown away or left untended on shelves and in drawers at home are often stolen and either abused or sold by family members and visitors. That’s why the DEA and thousands of its state, local, and tribal law enforcement and community partners...
PRESS RELEASE

Boynton Beach Doctor Arrested For Writing Unlawful Prescription

APR 05 - BOYNTON BEACH, FLA. - On April 5, 2017, Dr. Peter Katz, a licensed physician practicing in Boynton Beach, Florida, was arrested at his residence in Boynton Beach, on state charges of willingly and unlawfully writing a prescription for hydrocodone/acetaminophen, a Schedule II controlled substance for which there...
PRESS RELEASE

2 Named In Major Los Angeles-Detroit Heroin, Cocaine Trafficking Operation

LOS ANGELES - As part of a DEA investigation stemming from a multi-kilogram narcotics seizure at Los Angeles International Airport last month, two men have been named in a federal criminal complaint that alleges they were key operatives in a drug trafficking organization that shipped cocaine and heroin from Los...
PRESS RELEASE

Orlando Man Pleads Guilty To Distributing Heroin And Fentanyl That Resulted In Death

WESTON, Fla. - Hugo Margenat-Castro, 25, of Orlando, Florida, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, 100 grams or more of heroin and distribution of fentanyl that resulted in the death of another. He faces a mandatory minimum term of 20 years and up to life, in...