United States Drug Enforcement Administration

WASHINGTON – A federal court ordered an Elkin, North Carolina, pharmacy to pay a $500,000 penalty and enjoined the pharmacy and its pharmacists from dispensing controlled substances, including opioids, without taking steps to help ensure the drugs will not be abused or diverted. The consent decree resolves a complaint filed...

Milwaukee, Wis. - John McGarry, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Milwaukee and U.S. Attorney Gregory J. Haanstad, for the Eastern District of Wisconsin that on March 4, 2024, John D. Whelan (age: 77), a psychiatrist, was sentenced to a term of 48 months’ imprisonment followed by...

CHICAGO — Shiela Lyons, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Chicago Field Division, and Acting U.S. Attorney Morris Pasqual for the Northern District of Illinois announced that two suburban Chicago physicians have been sentenced to federal prison for prescribing opioids to individuals who lacked a legitimate medical need...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A North Carolina physician appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan C. Rodriguez this morning on charges related to the alleged unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. A criminal indictment charging Henry Ronald Emery, Jr...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Todd C. Smith, Assistant Special Agent in Charge at U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Chicago Field Division, and U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Harris for the Central District of Illinois announced that Issac Jackson, 29, of Le Roy, Illinois, was sentenced on Sept. 7, 2023, to 30 months in...

CHICAGO — Sheila G. Lyons, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Chicago Field Division, and Acting U.S. Attorney Morris Pasqual for the Northern District of Illinois announced that a physician assistant who formerly worked at a Chicago medical practice has been charged in federal court with fraudulently...

CHICAGO — Sheila G. Lyons, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Chicago Field Division, and Acting U.S. Attorney Morris Pasqual for the Northern District of Illinois announced that a suburban Chicago physician has been sentenced to a federal prison term for prescribing opioids to patients without a...

NEW BERN, N.C. – A three-judge panel from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a unanimous, published opinion affirming former physician Jong Whan Kim’s conviction and sentence for operating a pill mill in Tabor City. The Fourth Circuit’s decision was the first published opinion by the Court upholding a...

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...

MILWAUKEE - John J. McGarry, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Milwaukee, and U.S. Attorney Gregory J. Haanstad for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, announced that on May 12, 2023, Michele Nickels. was sentenced to12 months and one day of imprisonment, to be followed by two years...