United States Drug Enforcement Administration

BALTIMORE - A federal grand jury has returned three indictments charging a total of 16 individuals with drug conspiracy and other charges for operating purported pain management clinics that the indictments allege were actually “pill mills.” The indictments were returned on May 20, 2015, and unsealed late yesterday upon the...

MANHATTAN, N.Y. - Bridget G. Brennan, New York City’s Special Narcotics Prosecutor announced today the conviction of Dr. Hector Castro, an internal medicine practitioner, on 39 counts of Criminal Sale of a Prescription for a Controlled Substance. A Manhattan jury found Castro guilty on all counts following a three-week trial...

NEW ORLEANS - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Keith Brown and U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that Fred Douglas Brooks III, age 47, of Houston; David Humphries, age 46, of Baltimore; and Paul Lee, age 36, Marlon Barnes, age 38, and Garry Gentry, age 31, residents of...

ORLANDO, Fla. - U.S. District Judge Wm. Terrell Hodges today sentenced Bryant Dewayne (30, Lake County) to 10 years in federal prison for the attempted possession with the intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine. In a separate proceeding, Simmons previously forfeited approximately $150,000, two trucks, and a...

MIAMI - Four Tampa residents have been charged by indictment with conspiracy to import a synthetic cannabinoid, a/k/a “Spice,” to the United States from China. A.D. Wright, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement (DEA), Miami Field Division; Wifredo A. Ferrer, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Alysa D...

LAREDO, Texas - A total of five Laredoans have been ordered to prison for their roles in a kidnaping ordered by Los Zetas and executed by members and associates of the gang Hermanos Pistoleros (HPL), announced Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Joseph M. Arabit, Houston Division and U.S...

ST. PAUL, Minn. - ― United States Attorney Andrew M. Luger today announced the indictment of 41 members of a multi-state heroin trafficking conspiracy. The 41 defendants named in the indictment were charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Heroin, Methamphetamine, Oxycodone, Hydromorphone, Hydrocodone, and Methadone. Several defendants were charged with additional...

MILWAUKEE - ― Federal law enforcement officials today announced the arrest of Chinese National Haijun Tian, the highest-level synthetic designer drug trafficker apprehended to date in the United States. Agents from the Drug Enforcement (DEA) and Internal Revenue Service’s Office of Criminal (IRS) arrested Tian at Los Angeles International Airport...

GREENBELT, Md. - U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang sentenced Christian Diamond Byrd, age 44, of Laurel, Maryland today to 15 years in prison followed by four years of supervised release for distribution of heroin. Judge Chuang also ordered Byrd to forfeit $440,000, the proceeds of his drug distribution. The sentence...

BUFFALO, N.Y. - James J. Hunt, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement (DEA), New York Division, and William J. Hochul Jr., United States Attorney, Western District of New York announced last night that Ricardo Garza, 52, of Houston, TX, who was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute...