United States Drug Enforcement Administration

RALEIGH, N.C. – A former Fuquay-Varina nurse was sentenced today to 48 months in prison and three years of supervised release for tampering with painkillers intended for surgery patients. On March 9, 2022, Melissa Elizabeth Chacona pled guilty to the charges. “Surgical patients trust healthcare providers to give them the...

ORLANDO, Fla. - United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced that Robert J. Potocnack (42, St. Cloud) has pleaded guilty to one count of possession with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking...

BUFFALO, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Orlando Albert-Arroyo, 28, of Buffalo, NY, who was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, heroin, was sentenced to serve 144 months in prison by Chief U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford. Assistant U.S...

FRESNO, Calif. — Juan Medina, 29, of Sacramento, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to distribute heroin, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Brian M. Clark announced. According to court documents, in July 2015, Medina, a truck driver acting at the direction of a...

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Wednesday sentenced a man who provided the drugs that caused one fatal and two nonfatal overdoses in St. Charles, Missouri, to 35 years in prison. Ledra A. Craig, 46, of Wright City, Mo., was also ordered to pay $8,544 for...

EL PASO, Texas – A Dallas woman pleaded guilty in a federal court in El Paso Wednesday to charges in connection to her role as a stash house operator and coordinator of a human smuggling organization operating in far west Texas. According to court documents, Elizabeth Miranda Lozano, 39, joined...

FRESNO, Calif. — Sawtantra Chopra, 76, of Modesto, pleaded guilty Wednesday to three counts of illegally prescribing opioids and other medication, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Brian M. Clark announced. According to court documents, Chopra admitted prescribing drugs — including hydrocodone, alprazolam...

ST. LOUIS – A jury in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on Thursday found a convicted felon guilty of selling the heroin and fentanyl that killed a Florissant, Missouri, man in 2018. The jury found Wyland Kinney, 43, of St. Louis County, guilty of four felony counts: distribution of...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – A registered nurse on Thursday admitted illegally obtaining and using fentanyl from the hospital where she worked. Lindsey M. Francis, now 35, was a nurse at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau at the time of the crime. On Jan. 15, 2022, a colleague discovered...

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...