United States Drug Enforcement Administration

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA—Former Advanced Nurse Practitioner Jessica Joyce Spayd (52) was sentenced in U.S. District Court yesterday to 30 years (360 months) imprisonment for illegally prescribing and dispensing opioids outside the scope of legitimate medical practice that resulted in the deaths of five people between 2014 and 2019. United States District...

ST. LOUIS - A doctor admitted on Friday that he diluted methadone that was dispensed in a St. Francois County, Missouri, methadone clinic in 2021. Dr. Sunil G. Chand, 59, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk to one count of adulterating a drug with the...

DALLAS, TX - Twenty-five alleged drug traffickers have been charged in “Operation Papercheck Fresh,” announced DEA Dallas Special Agent in Charge Eduardo A. Chávez. During a large-scale operation last Thursday – which involved eight law enforcement agencies targeting nine locations, including a recording studio in Dallas’ Bryan Place neighborhood –...

RALEIGH, N.C. – A Robeson County man was sentenced today to 120 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute and possessing with the intent to distribute thousands of illegal prescription pills including oxycodone, oxymorphone, hydrocodone, and methadone. On February 16, 2021, Jeffrey Randal Brooks, Jr., pleaded guilty to the charges...

SPOKANE, Wash. – Senior U.S. District Judge Edward F. Shea has sentenced Dr. Janet Sue Arnold, age 63, of Benton City, Washington, to 48 months in federal prison for conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute opioid pain medications and other controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose...

Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Charles Benjamin Stewart, Jr., age 49, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, on April 18, 2022, to eight years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine; for illegally transporting a firearm obtained out...

DALLAS, TX- An Arlington physician has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for fraud and drug crimes, announced DEA Special Agent in Charge Eduardo A. Chávez. In July 2021, a federal jury convicted physician Clinton Battle, 69, of one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and one...

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...

Baltimore, Md., – U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced William Soyke, age 68, of Hanover, Pennsylvania to 37 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute and dispense oxycodone, fentanyl, methadone, and alprazolam outside the scope of professional practice and not for...

Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Ana Christina Avalos a/k/a “Christina Cazares-Quintero”, age 35, of Phelan, California, to 57 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute controlled substances. The sentence was announced by...