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...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Dixon, Mo., woman has been sentenced in federal court for possessing methamphetamine to distribute. Connie M. Gonzales, 53, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark on Aug. 31, 2023, to 23 years in federal prison without parole. On Nov. 17, 2022, Gonzales pleaded guilty to...

AUSTIN, Texas – An Austin man and two co-conspirators were sentenced in a federal court in Austin for their roles in the distribution of fentanyl resulting in death. According to court documents, David Lee Jr., 46, of Austin, Virginia Zepeda, 43, of Austin, and Jackie Lynne Chester, 37, of Taylor...

LAREDO, Texas – A 35-year-old Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer working at the Port of Entry in Laredo has been arrested, announced Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Daniel C. Comeaux of the Houston Division and U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani. Emanuel Celedon is set to make...

NEW YORK CITY - Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Frank A. Tarentino III, the Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Drug Enforcement Administration, and Robert Noble, Chief of the Yorktown Police Department, announced that Perry Freeman...

PLANO, Texas – A Laredo man pleaded guilty to federal drug trafficking violations in the Eastern District of Texas on the day his jury trial was set to begin, announced Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Daniel C. Comeaux of the Houston Division and U.S. Attorney Damien M...

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...

WATERBURY, Conn. - United States Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery, Special Agent in Charge Robert Fuller of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Waterbury Police Chief Fernando C. Spagnolo today announced that the following 15 individuals have been charged with federal offenses stemming from the distribution of cocaine, crack cocaine, and...

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Four people have been indicted on drug-distribution charges, announced U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Brad L. Byerley. A four-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges Jasmond Dewand Foster, aka “Jazz”, 36, of Florence, Victor Manuel Alcocer-Gonzalez, 37, of...