United States Drug Enforcement Administration

BOSTON –Twenty-three individuals in Massachusetts have been charged in connection with a North Shore-based drug trafficking organization (DTO) that allegedly manufactured and distributed tens of thousands of counterfeit prescription pills containing narcotics. The defendants were charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute controlled substances. According...

BARTON, Vt. - The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that Vermont resident Erika Desormeaux, 36, was arrested and held in federal custody following the search of her residence on Maple Hill Road in Barton, Vermont this morning. Desormeaux is charged in a criminal...

BOSTON – A Reading man and a Saugus man have been arrested in connection with conspiring to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. Charles Brennick Bates, 31, of Reading, and Aaron Lenardis, 36, of Saugus, were each charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. Following...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A Providence man found by law enforcement to be in possession of more than 50 grams of crystal methamphetamine and two guns was sentenced today to five years in federal prison, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha. Sean M. Francis, 34, pleaded guilty on February 16...

CONCORD, N.H. – Jared Stottlar, 43, of Tilton, pleaded guilty in federal court to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and possessing a firearm in connection with a drug trafficking offense, United States Attorney Jane E. Young announced today. According to court documents and statements made in court, on August...

BOSTON – A Springfield man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Springfield for drug trafficking offenses involving fentanyl. David Cruz, 25, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Mark G. Mastroianni to three years in prison and three years of supervised release. On May 23, 2022, Cruz pleaded...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Four southern Missouri men were sentenced in federal court today for their roles in a conspiracy to distribute large quantities of methamphetamine. Patrick A. Dodson, also known as “Julio,” 42, and Leslie O. Collins, 48, both of West Plains, Mo., Samuel L. Pyatt, also known as “Tippy,”...

TAMPA, Fla. – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced that Hector Enrique Veliz Villeda (30, Hialeah) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine. Veliz Villeda faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years, and up to life, in federal prison. A sentencing date has...

FORT MYERS, F l a . – U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber sentenced Shauntavus Berklin (34, Fort Myers) to 15 years in federal prison for possessing firearms as a convicted felon and distributing fentanyl. The court also ordered Berklin to forfeit the firearms he illegally had possessed. Berklin had...

CAMDEN, N.J. – Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division Susan A. Gibson and U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger announced a Philadelphia man today admitted trafficking in large quantities of methamphetamine and fentanyl in southern New Jersey and Philadelphia...