United States Drug Enforcement Administration

Washington, D.C. - As U.S. overdose deaths reach a devastating new height, claiming a new victim every five minutes, the Drug Enforcement Administration has revealed a direct link between fentanyl-related overdose deaths and criminal drug networks in Mexico. These groups are harnessing social media platforms to bring drugs laced with...

MILWAUKEE - John G. McGarry, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Wisconsin, and Acting United States Attorney Richard G. Frohling announced that on Dec. 10, 2021, Lisa Hofschulz, 61, formerly a licensed nurse practitioner in the state of Wisconsin, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison...

Spokane - Esther Rae Tuller, age 40, of Moses Lake, Washington, has pleaded guilty to tampering with morphine medication while working as a registered nurse. Chief United States District Judge Stanley A. Bastian accepted Tuller’s guilty plea and scheduled a sentencing hearing for March 17, 2022, in Spokane. According to...

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- A former Garden City, Ga., clinic owner and CEO has admitted to laundering money in connection with a notorious “pill mill” doctor who illegally dispensed massive amounts of controlled substances. Jamesetta Whipple-Duncan, 58, of Savannah, pled guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of money laundering...

FORT MYERS, Fla. – U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell today sentenced Gerald Michael Abraham, 76, of Naples, Florida. to three years in federal prison for dispensing controlled substances (oxycodone and amphetamine) for no legitimate medical purpose. The court also ordered Abraham to forfeit the following items to the United...

NEWARK, N.J. – Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division Susan A. Gibson and Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Rachael A. Honig announced a nonprofit healthcare system that owns and operates a network of healthcare entities has agreed to pay $150,000...

RICHMOND, Va. – A Guatemalan national was sentenced today to 172 months in prison for his role as a maritime transportation manager in a large-scale Guatemalan drug trafficking organization (DTO). According to court documents, beginning in 2016, Amilcar Chavez-Barrera, 42, conspired to distribute over 1,000 kilograms of cocaine for distribution...

DENVER – Today, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Denver Field Division, alongside Rocky Mountain HIDTA and the 18th Judicial District, announced the indictment of 19 individuals and arrest of 10 individuals as a part of an investigation into a poly-drug trafficking organization operating in the greater Denver area of Colorado. In...

Greenbelt, Md., – A federal jury convicted El Salvadorian nationals Junior Noe Alvarado-Requeno, a/k/a “Insolente” and “Trankilo,” age 24, of Landover, Maryland, and Miguel Angel Corea Diaz, a/k/a “Reaper,” age 41, of Long Branch, New Jersey yesterday for conspiring to participate in La Mara Salvatrucha, a transnational criminal enterprise also...

COEUR D’ALENE – Dr. Eric Benson, an internist practicing medicine in Post Falls, Idaho, agreed to pay $110,000 to resolve allegations that he unlawfully prescribed opioids and other controlled substances to patients between 2014-2021. The settlement, which was based in part on Dr. Benson’s ability to pay, also restricts the...