United States Drug Enforcement Administration

LOS ANGELES - Anthony D. Williams, Special Agent in Charge of the Los Angeles Field Division, announced today that area residents turned in more than 29,740 (15 tons) of medication as part of the seventh DEA National Prescription Drug Take-Back Program. This event was held on Saturday, October 26th, and...

OCT 21 - LOS ANGELES - The one-time top leader of the Avenues gang in northwest Los Angeles and the lead defendant in a federal racketeering indictment who admitted murdering a rival gang member and ordered the killing of one of his underlings was sentenced this morning to 25 years...

SANTA ANA, Calif. - An Orange County physician who admitted that he illegally prescribed dangerous, addictive painkillers to “patients” he barely examined during meetings that were often held at Starbucks stores was sentenced late today to over 11 years in federal prison. Alvin Mingczech Yee, 44, of Mission Viejo, was...

HONOLULU - Defendants Roger Cusick Christie, age 64, and Sherryanne L. Christie, age 62, husband and wife, pled guilty today in U.S. District Court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard L. Puglisi to marijuana trafficking and tax offenses. Roger Christie pled guilty to conspiring to manufacture, distribute, and possess with intent...

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Jonathan Hoang, of San Jose, California, pleaded guilty in Federal court on September 16, 2013, to charges of impersonating a U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA) special agent and Securities Fraud, announced Acting Special Agent in Charge Bruce C. Balzano and United States Attorney Melinda Haag. Hoang, 48...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Lida Amin, 39, of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Dublin, Calif., was arrested Wednesday in Prague, Czech Republic, by Czech authorities pursuant to a U.S. request for her provisional arrest with a view toward extradition, Acting Special Agent in Charge Bruce C. Balzano and United States Attorney...

RICHMOND, Calif. - The Drug Enforcement Administration Oakland Resident Office in cooperation with the Richmond Police Department and the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office arrested twenty-three members of a violent street gang based in Richmond, California. As a result of this four month long investigation, murders and violence in...

LOS ANGELES - The Las Vegas Sands Corp., which operates the Venetian-Palazzo hotel complex in Las Vegas, has agreed to return $47,400,300 to conclude an investigation into the casino’s failure to alert authorities that a high-stakes gambler, who was later linked to international drug trafficking, made numerous large and suspicious...

FRESNO, Calif. - Damone Kelley, 45, of Fresno, is the last of seven defendants to plead guilty today for his involvement in a drug and money laundering ring that extended from Fresno to Alabama and Georgia, Acting Special Agent in Charge Bruce C. Balzano and United States Attorney Benjamin B...

FRESNO, Calif. - Gerardo Morales, 23, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to cultivate, distribute and possess with intent to distribute marijuana grown on a 20-acre agricultural parcel in Alpaugh, Acting Special Agent in Charge Bruce C. Balzano and U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. According to court documents, on May...