United States Drug Enforcement Administration

PORTLAND, Ore.—In August and October 2021, coordinated law enforcement operations targeting two Portland-area transnational drug trafficking cells led to the arrests of the cells’ leaders and more than a dozen associates, and the seizure of approximately 200,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills suspected to contain fentanyl, two pounds of fentanyl powder, 40...

MIAMI - A federal court in Florida ordered a Tampa-area pharmacy shut down and prohibited two of its employees from ever owning, managing or operating any business where controlled substances are dispensed. Pursuant to an agreed consent judgment and permanent injunction filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District...

Washington, D.C., – The DEA, along with its law enforcement partners, removed close to 745,000 pounds of unneeded prescriptions from medicine cabinets across the country this past Saturday, October 23rd, as part of DEA’s ongoing commitment to turn the tide against the U.S. opioid epidemic. Following last month’s 21st National...

SPOKANE – Vanessa R. Waldref, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced that David Barnes Nay, age 42, of Prosser, Washington, was sentenced on October 20, 2021, after having pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute eight controlled substances...

ABINGDON, Va. – A Greenville, South Carolina man, who formerly resided in Bristol, Virginia, pleaded guilty last week to distributing methamphetamine, international money laundering, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and conspiring to obstruct justice. According to court documents, Joshua Desorcy, 36, was directly responsible for...

ST. LOUIS – This week the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service arrested 17 people in Missouri, Arizona, California, and Mexico linked to an organized multi-state drug trafficking conspiracy. According to the previously sealed 16 count indictment returned on October 13, 2021, this was a...

Washington, D.C., – The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Washington Division will host its 21st National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, this Saturday, October 23 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This event offers free and anonymous disposal of unneeded medications at more than 4,000 local drop-off locations nationwide. For more...

ATLANTA - Jaime Cruz Duarte, Rito Armando Torres Gutierrez, and Antonio Penaloza Torres have been charged with federal offenses including conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. “This seizure and the...

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – Deonta J. Thomas, 29, of Collinsville, Illinois, was sentenced in federal court in East St. Louis Oct. 18 to 10 years imprisonment for distribution of methamphetamine. Thomas pled guilty to this offense on May 20, 2021. As part of his guilty plea, Thomas acknowledged that...

Spokane – Helmut Ewe Borchert, age 62, of Spokane, Washington, was sentenced today after having pleaded guilty on July 15, 2021, to Possession with Intent to Distribute 500 Grams or More of a Mixture or Substance Containing a Detectable Amount of Methamphetamine. United States District Judge Thomas O. Rice sentenced...