United States Drug Enforcement Administration

OAKLAND, Calif. – Jose Luis Garcia, the co-owner of Envios Express, a money transmitting business in Oakland, was sentenced this week to 12 months in federal prison. The Honorable Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr., United States District Judge, handed down the sentence on Jan. 15, 2025. Garcia, 57, of Oakland, was...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The United States has filed a civil complaint against nurse practitioner Joan Rubinger, registered in Stockton, that alleges a long-running nationwide scheme to sell illegal opioid prescriptions for cash, Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Bob P. Beris announced. The...

FRESNO, Calif. — Ifeanyi Vincent Ntukogu, 49, of Fresno, was sentenced today to seven years and three months in prison for illegally distributing oxycodone and hydrocodone. Ntukogu was a pharmacist in Madera who dispensed more than 450,000 oxycodone and hydrocodone pills based on fraudulent prescriptions, all in exchange for cash...

OAKLAND, Calif. – Christian Grajeda-Varela, a Honduran national who pleaded guilty to fentanyl trafficking and money laundering, was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison. The sentence was handed down by the Hon. Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr., United States District Judge. Grajeda-Varela, 25, was charged by indictment on Aug. 2...

OAKLAND, Calif. – Felipe de Jesus Ornelas Mora, the owner of Rincon Musical, a money transmitting business in Oakland, was sentenced today to 18 months in federal prison following his conviction for conspiracy to commit money laundering, announced First Assistant United States Attorney Patrick D. Robbins; IRS Criminal Investigation (CI)...

OAKLAND, Calif. – Parto Karimi, a former Bay Area doctor, has been sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison for distributing powerful opioids outside the scope of medical practice, announced United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), San Francisco Field Division, Special Agent...

SAN FRANCISCO – The United States Attorney’s Office has charged Yessenia Margarita Barrientos-Lainez—a former employee of a money services business in the Tenderloin district—with conspiring to launder drug proceeds by wiring large sums of money abroad for a known drug trafficker in the San Francisco Bay Area, announced United States...

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced the arrest of and filing of charges against Dr. Arash Padidar, a Santa Clara County doctor accused of illegally prescribing opioids to patients. The arrest and charges are the result of an investigation into an alleged two-years-long illegal prescription...

SAN JOSE, Calif. – A federal jury yesterday convicted family medicine physician Donald Siao of twelve counts of distributing the controlled substances Oxycodone and Hydrocodone outside the scope of his usual professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose, announced United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)...

SAN FRANCISCO –Thomas Keller, formerly a pain management doctor in Santa Rosa, has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for distributing Schedule II and IV controlled substances outside the scope of his professional practice and without a legitimate medical need, announced United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey, Drug Enforcement...