United States Drug Enforcement Administration

WASHINGTON – Today, ahead of the expiration of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) issued the “Temporary Extension of COVID-19 Telemedicine Flexibilities for Prescription of Controlled Medications” – a temporary rule that extends telemedicine flexibilities...

BOSTON – A Haverhill man was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for fentanyl conspiracy charges. Sergio Garcia, 37, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs to 46 months in prison and two years of supervised release. In March 2022, Garcia pleaded guilty to one count...

BUFFALO, NY - U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross and Frank A. Tarentino III, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), New York Division announced that John Wallace Buchanan, 36, of Fredonia, NY, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with distribution of fentanyl causing death, narcotics...

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. - Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that EDWIN REYES, 40, of New Britain, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in Bridgeport to 72 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, for trafficking heroin...

HARTFORD, Conn. - Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that PEDRO DIAZ, 45, of Red Lion, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford to 60 months of imprisonment, followed by four years of supervised release, for trafficking fentanyl...

BOSTON – A Colombian man pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Boston to his role in a drug trafficking conspiracy connected with organized crime in the Republic of Colombia. Mario Zapata Velez, 41, of Medellín, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to...

DENVER - 41-year-old Christopher Robert Pattinson of Commerce City, was sentenced to three years in prison for tampering with fentanyl intended for patient use according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado. According to the plea agreement, Pattinson was a Paramedic Field Lieutenant Supervisor at a Denver-area...

NEWARK, N.J. – A New Jersey doctor today admitted participating in a health care fraud scheme to defraud Amtrak, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced. Muhammad Mirza, 50, of Cedar Grove, New Jersey, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo to an information charging him with...

BOSTON – A Lowell man was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for conspiring to distribute cocaine. Miguel Colindres, 61, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to 51 months in prison and three years of supervised release. In January, Colindres pleaded guilty to...

BOSTON – A drug trafficker operating out of the Boston area has pleaded guilty to his role in a cocaine trafficking conspiracy. Maurice Coates, 45, of Randolph, pleaded guilty on April 18, 2023 to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or...