DEA Archived Press Releases

Press Releases before January 20, 2025
508 Results - Showing 171 to 180
PRESS RELEASE

Online drug dealer sentenced to 15 years for distributing counterfeit pills containing fentanyl that caused overdose death

SAN DIEGO – Drug dealer Trevon Antone Lucas was sentenced in federal court today to 15 years in prison for selling the counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl that caused the overdose death of a La Jolla resident in June of 2018. Lucas, a resident of Highland, Calif., pleaded guilty...
PRESS RELEASE

Overprescribing opioids costs La Jolla doctor $125,000

SAN DIEGO – Dr. Roger A. Kasendorf, an osteopathic physician practicing in La Jolla, agreed to pay $125,000 to resolve allegations that he illegally prescribed opioids to his patients. The highly addictive and frequently abused opioids he prescribed included fentanyl, hydromorphone, oxymorphone, and oxycodone. In response to the Justice Department’s...
PRESS RELEASE

Federal grand jury charges three men for distributing fentanyl-laced pills that caused death of rapper Mac Miller

LOS ANGELES – Three men were charged in a federal grand jury indictment that alleges they distributed narcotics, including counterfeit pharmaceutical pills, containing fentanyl that resulted in the overdose death of hip-hop artist Mac Miller. Cameron James Pettit, 28, of West Hollywood; Stephen Andrew Walter, 46, of Westwood; and Ryan...
PRESS RELEASE

Massive takedown targets East County drug trafficking networks

SAN DIEGO – Eight indictments were unsealed today in San Diego federal court charging 85 members of drug distribution networks linked to the Sinaloa Cartel, with federal drug trafficking, money laundering and firearms offenses. During the coordinated takedown that began early this morning, investigators executed over a dozen search warrants...
PRESS RELEASE

Drug dealer pleads guilty in fentanyl overdose death

SAN DIEGO – Uriah Odish pleaded guilty in federal court today, admitting that he supplied fentanyl that led to the fatal overdose of 25-year-old Tiffany Hansen, of La Mesa, on Jan. 23, 2018. According to his plea agreement, Odish sold more than 500 grams of what he knew to be...
PRESS RELEASE

Dealer admits selling deadly fentanyl laced pills

SAN DIEGO – Christopher James Stracuzzi entered a guilty plea in federal court today, admitting that he distributed fentanyl that resulted in the death of a San Diego man. Stracuzzi is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 2, 2019, at 9 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Thomas J. Whelan. According...
PRESS RELEASE

Hollywood Hills man arrested on federal charges of selling fentanyl-laced pills to Rapper Mac Miller two days before his overdose death

LOS ANGELES – A Hollywood Hills resident was arrested this morning on federal charges alleging that he sold counterfeit pharmaceutical drugs containing fentanyl to Mac Miller two days before the hip-hop artist died of a drug overdose. Cameron James Pettit, 23, was arrested this morning by special agents with the...
PRESS RELEASE

Three men sentenced for attempting to smuggle $28 million of cocaine on the high seas

SAN DIEGO – Three South American cocaine traffickers were sentenced in federal court this week after being convicted of transporting approximately 1,230 kilograms (2,706 pounds) of cocaine—worth more than $28 million USD—on the high seas. The sentencing hearings followed a week-long trial in April in which a federal jury convicted...
PRESS RELEASE

Teen who recruited juveniles to smuggle drugs sentenced to 46 months in custody

SAN DIEGO -- Phillip Junior Webb, 20, was sentenced by District Court Judge Michael M. Anello in federal court today to 46 months in custody for conspiring to distribute controlled substances and smuggle undocumented individuals, including a Mexican national and Chinese national, for financial gain. According to the public record...
PRESS RELEASE

Jury convicts three men of trafficking nearly $17 million of cocaine

SAN DIEGO – Yesterday afternoon a federal jury convicted three defendants on charges stemming from their efforts to traffic approximately 734 kilograms (1,614 pounds) of cocaine -- worth nearly $17 million -- on the high seas. The verdict was rendered after a 10-day trial in the United States District Court...