United States Drug Enforcement Administration

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Three southwest Missouri residents are among five defendants indicted for their roles in a drug-trafficking conspiracy after federal agents seized 16 kilograms of cocaine while arresting two co-defendants in Texas. Mario Jose Castillo, 55, of Springfield, Mo.; Christhian Eduardo Cruz-Pineda, 22, a citizen of Honduras residing in...

SAN FRANCISCO – On May 8, 2024, the government of Honduras extradited convicted felon Victor Viera-Chirinos to the United States. The extradition marks the fourth in the case against 14 defendants alleged to have been trafficking large quantities of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine base, and cocaine in San Francisco. Information about...

SPRINGFIFELD, Mo. – Springfield, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a conspiracy to distribute heroin in Greene County, Mo. James D. Elbert, 42, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Beth Phillips to 10 years in federal prison without parole. On July 5, 2023...

FRESNO, Calif. — Elias Soliz, 26, of Madera, was sentenced on April 29, 2024, to 10 years in prison for distributing fentanyl, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Brian M. Clark announced. According to court documents, on Aug. 3, 2023, Soliz knowingly distributed...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – An inmate of the Lawton Correctional Facility in Oklahoma has been sentenced in federal court for leading a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Greene and Polk Counties while he was incarcerated. Joshua A. Ramirez, 39, who has no legal address, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. on Thursday sentenced a Poplar Bluff, Missouri, man to 10 years in prison for repeatedly selling methamphetamine and another two years for violating his supervised release for an earlier heroin distribution case. Joshua E. Forbes, 31, sold meth to...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – An Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, man has pleaded guilty to his role in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine after law enforcement officers seized more than $1 million worth of cocaine from a rental truck that was stopped on Interstate 70 in Lafayette County, Mo. Luis Gerardo Nieto-Acosta...

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Wednesday sentenced a man who sold millions of counterfeit Xanax pills on the Darknet to two years in prison, fined him $10,000 and ordered him to forfeit nearly $1 million. Brandon Adams, 27, will also be on supervised release for...

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Wednesday sentenced a man from St. Louis County, Missouri, who sold drugs to a woman who later died, to seven years in prison. Donald Lawrence Bateman, 28, pleaded guilty in January to distribution of a controlled substance and possession with...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Following a nine-week trial before Chief U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller, three members of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang were found guilty of racketeering activity that included murder and drug trafficking, Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Brian M. Clark and U.S. Attorney Phillip A...