United States Drug Enforcement Administration

Spokane - Esther Rae Tuller, age 40, of Moses Lake, Washington, has pleaded guilty to tampering with morphine medication while working as a registered nurse. Chief United States District Judge Stanley A. Bastian accepted Tuller’s guilty plea and scheduled a sentencing hearing for March 17, 2022, in Spokane. According to...

Baltimore, Md., – U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman has approved a consent decree that permanently enjoins Elizabeth J. Allen, a Baltimore-based physician assistant, from prescribing opioids and other controlled substances, resolving the United States’ civil allegations that Allen violated the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) in illegally prescribing opioids. Under...

Greenbelt, Md., – Edwin Kerry Smith, age 43, of Silver Spring, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and admitted that heroin he distributed to one victim resulted in the victim’s fatal overdose. The guilty plea was announced by Jarod Forget, Special Agent in...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Los Angeles man pleaded guilty today to being the head of a conspiracy involving the distribution of wholesale quantities of synthetic cannabinoids—commonly known as “spice” or “K2”—and laundering millions of dollars in the proceeds of the sale of that spice. According to court documents, from 2017...

St. Louis, Mo. - Saint Francis Medical Center of Southeast Missouri has agreed to pay more than $1.6 million to settle a civil suit by the United States, resolving claims under the Controlled Substances Act. The U.S. government alleged that Saint Francis employed a Farmington, Missouri, physician, Brett Dickinson, who...

ALEXANDRIA, Va., – A Florida man pleaded guilty today to unlawfully distributing thousands of prescription opioid pills in exchange for over half a million dollars through the “dark web.” According to court documents, between 2012 and 2020, Daren James Reid, 35, of Fort Lauderdale, used the dark web to distribute...

MINEOLA, N.Y. – Drug Enforcement Administration, New York Division, Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan and Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced that a Valley Stream man was arrested today for allegedly using a doctor’s prescription pad to acquire more than 13,000 oxycodone and morphine pills during a nine-month...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A grand jury brought a five-count indictment today against a Granite Bay resident, charging him with conspiracy to transport marijuana and concentrated cannabis oil in his Learjet, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Daniel C. Comeaux announced. Manish Patel, 33...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Pomona, California, woman was sentenced in federal court today for leading a conspiracy to distribute large quantities of methamphetamine in Jasper County, Missouri. Melissa R. Kivett, 42, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 27 years in federal prison without parole. The case...

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge J. Michael Gannon and United States Attorney Josh J. Minkler announced today, April E. Hayworth, 31, Indianapolis, and Christina A. Smith, 37, Indianapolis, were charged today on federal drug, conspiracy, and burglary charges. “During this COVID19 pandemic, it is vitally important...