DEA Archived Press Releases

Press Releases before January 20, 2025
53 Results - Showing 1 to 10
PRESS RELEASE

Omaha Division Special Agent Carlos Lavastida awarded Enrique S. Camarena Award

OMAHA, Neb. – DEA Special Agent Carlos Lavastida is one of three law enforcement officers from Iowa presented with the Enrique S. Camarena Award by the DEA and United States Attorney’s Offices for the Northern and Southern Districts of Iowa. Lavastida, Lieutenant Brad Bollinger of the Sioux City Police Department...
PRESS RELEASE

Wisconsin heroin distributor sentenced to federal prison

OMAHA, Neb., – Jovan Marquis Harris of Milwaukee was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison on each of four counts related to distributing heroin resulting in death or serious bodily injury and 20 years on two final counts as determined by U.S. District Judge Mark W. Bennett, Northern District...
PRESS RELEASE

Minneapolis Tactical Diversion Squad talks opioids to Special Investigative Units

OMAHA, Neb. –Two members of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration Minneapolis District Office spoke with the Minnesota chapter of the International Association of Special Investigative Units last November in Eagan, Minn., on the deadliness of opioids in America and how the DEA is addressing the epidemic at the local...
PRESS RELEASE

Methamphetamine seizures rise in DEA's Omaha Division

OMAHA, Neb., – As the nation recognizes National Methamphetamine Awareness Day today, the Drug Enforcement Administration's Omaha Division announces that it has seen a three percent increase in methamphetamine seizures in one year. The division, which includes Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota, registered 817 pounds of seized...
PRESS RELEASE

40-plus white supremacist street gang members indicted

SAVANNAH, Ga. - More than 40 associates of the notorious Ghost Face Gangsters, a violent, white supremacist criminal street gang operated largely from inside prisons, have been indicted on federal charges related to drug trafficking and firearms possession throughout eastern Georgia and beyond. A 93-page, 83-count federal grand jury indictment...
PRESS RELEASE

Wilmington man sentenced to 252 months in prison for drug trafficking and firearms offenses

RALEIGH, N.C. – The Special Agent in Charge for the United States Drug Enforcement Administration's Atlanta Field Division, Robert Murphy, announced that United States District Judge James C. Dever III sentenced Joaquin R. Ortega, 36, of Graham, N.C., to 252 months imprisonment followed by 60 months of supervised release. Ortega...
PRESS RELEASE

Wilmington man sentenced to 190 months in prison for drug trafficking

RALEIGH, N.C. – The United States Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge for the Atlanta Field Division, Robert Murphy, announced that Chief United States District Judge Terrence W. Boyle sentenced Talih Rik Anthony Reeves, 36, of Wilmington, N.C., to 190 months imprisonment, followed by 48 months of supervised release...
PRESS RELEASE

Trafficker indicted for transporting heroin inside car battery

ATLANTA - Francisco Castaneda Rivera has been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly transporting 4.5 kilograms of heroin - hidden inside a car battery - from Texas to the Atlanta area. “Drug distribution is about delivering misery to the consumer,” said Robert J. Murphy, Special Agent in Charge...
PRESS RELEASE

U.S. Attorney Byung “BJay” Pak issues progress report

ATLANTA – The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia remains resolute in fighting the opioid epidemic that has plagued communities throughout the United States. According to the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention, more than 140 Americans die daily from an opioid overdose, and in 2017, nearly...
PRESS RELEASE

Men sentenced for methamphetamine distribution in Jacksonville, North Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C. – The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Robert J. Higdon, Jr., announced that today in federal court, United States District Judge James C. Dever, III sentenced Samuel Monserrate-Garcia, 55, of Midway Park, North Carolina and Victor Rodriguez , 41, of Jacksonville, North Carolina...