United States Drug Enforcement Administration

ALBUQUERQUE - Juan Velazquez, 26, of Las Cruces, N.M., pleaded guilty today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to distributing cocaine and participating in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine in Doña Ana County, N.M. Velazquez was arrested in Sept. 2016, on an indictment alleging cocaine trafficking charges. The 18-count...

ALBUQUERQUE - Amber Kay Otero, 31, of Carlsbad, N.M., pleaded guilty today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to the misdemeanor offense of unlawfully possessing a controlled substance. Otero was arrested on Sept. 23, 2016, following an investigation initiated after the DEA received a report of theft or loss...

ALBUQUERQUE - David Nunez of Santa Fe, N.M., pleaded guilty today in federal court in Albuquerque, N.M., to the misdemeanor offense of dispensing a controlled substance, testosterone, without a prescription. Nunez was a licensed pharmacist and the owner of a pharmacy in Santa Fe at the time he committed the...

ALBUQUERQUE - Ivan Romero, 40, the leader of a heroin trafficking organization based in Taos County, N.M. pleaded guilty earlier this week to federal heroin and money laundering charges filed as the result of a 15-month DEA-led multi-agency investigation. His brother, Ricco Romero, 29, and his wife, Melissa Romero, 37...

CHICAGO - Federal charges unsealed today accused 24 individuals of various drug offenses for allegedly using Amtrak trains to transport heroin and cocaine to Chicago from California. One of the defendants is an Amtrak employee who allegedly stole a package of cocaine upon arrival at Chicago’s Union Station. Authorities uncovered...

CHICAGO - A federal grand jury in Chicago has indicted a Morris man on attempted murder charges for allegedly trying to kill two DEA Task Force officers during an undercover drug sting in Joliet, IL. Adan Godinez, 31, of Morris, tried to kill the officers during an undercover operation in...

EL PASO - Samuel Velasco Gurrola, 41 years old, faces mandatory life in federal prison after a jury convicted him this afternoon of his role in a murder-for-hire Jurors convicted Gurrola of three counts of conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and four counts of conspiracy to cause...

EL PASO - Christopher Chavez, 40, of El Paso, Texas, was sentenced today to 60 months of imprisonment, followed by four years of supervised release, for his role in a cocaine trafficking organization that transported large amounts of cocaine into Connecticut. Chavez also was ordered to pay a $25,000 fine...

CHICAGO - Aaron Moore, 28, of Chicago, IL was arrested in Chicago by agents from the DEA and members of the Oak Park Police Department. He was charged by the Kane County State’s Attorney Office with drug induced homicide for his role in the overdose death of Richard Gregoire. Richard...

EL PASO - A Barrio (BA) gang associate was sentenced today to 240 months in prison for his participation in a racketeering conspiracy and drug trafficking offenses. Luis Humberto Hernandez Celis, aka Pac, 32, of El Paso, was sentenced before U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone of the Western District of...