United States Drug Enforcement Administration

SEATTLE– Ten members of a South Puget Sound drug trafficking organization were indicted following a lengthy investigation that uncovered the trafficking of marijuana to East Coast locales, and the importation and distribution of fentanyl and cocaine in Western Washington. Multiple search warrants were served this morning and eight people were...

ST. LOUIS – A man from Lake St. Louis, Missouri, on Monday admitted laundering money for methamphetamine dealers operating in the St. Louis area. Melvin Hayes, 66, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to misprision of a felony. Hayes admitted working on behalf of Demond Bernard McDaniels...

BOSTON – A coordinator for a large-scale international fentanyl trafficking and money laundering conspiracy, operating on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico, has been sentenced in federal court in Boston. Fermin Castillo, 43, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge William G. Young to 25 years in prison...

An investigation into fentanyl trafficking in New York City resulted in a significant seizure of 33 kilograms (over 65 pounds) of suspected fentanyl, including thousands of fentanyl pills, and more than 29 kilograms (over 45 pounds) of suspected methamphetamine in an apartment in the University Heights neighborhood of the Bronx...

BOSTON – A Colombian man has been sentenced in federal court in Boston for his role in a drug trafficking, money laundering and extortion conspiracy connected to organized crime in the Republic of Colombia. Fabio Yepes Sanchez, 57, of Medellín, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin...

NEWARK, NJ. – A New Jersey-based employee of an international financial institution was arrested today for accepting bribes to facilitate millions of dollars of money laundering, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) New Jersey Field Division Cheryl Ortiz U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced. Oscar Marcelo...

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...

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – A New Jersey man admitted guilt in a U.S. District courtroom in southern Illinois Tuesday to acting as a middleman between an India-based pharmaceutical distribution company and customers in the United States. Moises A. Sanabria, 32, of Bloomfield, New Jersey, pled guilty to one count...

ST. LOUIS – More than two dozen people were arrested this week in connection with charges including drug trafficking and financial crimes, U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming said Thursday. The arrests by the U.S. Marshals, federal agents and local police follow a series of grand jury indictments. Thirty-four people have...

EL PASO, Texas – A Mexican national was sentenced in a federal court in El Paso to 70 months in prison for possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine. According to court documents, Cesar Tarango Cobos, 42...