United States Drug Enforcement Administration

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Results of the first 60-days of the federal Violence Prevention and Elimination Response (VIPER) Initiative were announced today. VIPER sought to address the dramatic increase in gun violence in the City of Buffalo during the first half of 2021. The initial 60-day period of VIPER covered the...

MIAMI, Fla. – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the U.S. Department of State today announced a new reward for information that will lead to the location, arrest, and/or conviction of People’s Republic of China (PRC) national Jian Zhang, a key leader of a transnational criminal organization known as...

SAN DIEGO – A Tijuana-based drug trafficker who used teens as drug couriers was sentenced in federal court today to seven years in prison and a $50,000 fine for his leadership role in coordinating the movement of large quantities of cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine to San Diego from Mexico...

SAN DIEGO - A federal jury returned a guilty verdict today convicting Jahvaris Lamoun Springfield of selling Brendan James Gallagher fentanyl pills that resulted in Gallagher’s fatal overdose on February 5, 2019. Springfield is scheduled to be sentenced on December 14, 2021, by U.S. District Judge Larry Alan Burns. The...

Baltimore, Md., – Tirrel Saunders, a/k/a “Pretty”, age 35, of Baltimore, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. Saunders was a member of the Gregory Butler Drug Trafficking Organization (“Butler DTO”) which distributed heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, and crack cocaine in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. The...

ROCHESTER, NY –- U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan announced today that Soroush Hamedi, 27, of Rochester, NY, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, 40 grams or more of fentanyl, before Chief...

WASHINGTON—The Drug Enforcement Administration today announced a comprehensive review of DEA’s international operations and foreign footprint, including administrative and financial support for those operations from DEA headquarters. Administrator Anne Milgram has recommended a top to bottom review of foreign operations that will be overseen by an independent team. As part...

SEATTLE - A 51-year-old Seattle man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 13 years in prison for drug and gun crimes. Clyde McKnight was convicted May 21, 2021, of possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute, and two counts of being a felon in possession...

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, Md., – A federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging four men for a conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl. The indictment was returned on August 11, 2021. The defendants were arrested on a related criminal complaint on August 10, 2021...