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...

RALEIGH, N.C. – Today, United States Attorney Michael Easley announced that over the course of 2023, his office prosecuted 281 illegal firearm offenders resulting in the forfeiture of at least 249 illegally owned, possessed, used, or obtained firearms. Firearms that are criminally forfeited are removed from the possession of a...

STATESBORO, GA: Eighteen defendants from the Laurens and Toombs County, Ga., area are in custody awaiting further legal proceedings after their initial court appearances from a 55-count drug trafficking indictment in U.S. District Court. Each of the 18 defendants is charged with Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute and...

RALEIGH, N.C. – A Maxton man was sentenced yesterday to 300 months in prison for his role in a drug trafficking conspiracy responsible for moving kilograms of methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin from Mexico to Robeson County. Antonio Lavonne Locklear pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin, and...

SAVANNAH, GA: A Laurens County, Ga., man identified as a drug supplier in a Southeastern drug trafficking organization has been sentenced to federal prison, and his four co-defendants are serving prison terms after all pled guilty to charges related to the conspiracy. Dennis Rodriguez Kinchen, 46, of Dublin, Ga., was...

SAVANNAH, GA: The leader of a drug trafficking conspiracy that distributed kilos of cocaine and large amounts of other illegal drugs throughout the coastal Georgia area has been sentenced to more than 25 years in federal prison, concluding prosecution of Operation Deadlier Catch. Joseph Bulloch, a/k/a “Lil Joe,” 34, of...

NEW BERN, N.C. – A self-proclaimed founder and leader of a white supremacist gang, known as the Aryan Kings (“AK”), was sentenced today to 25 years in prison for trafficking heroin and methamphetamine, illegal possession of a firearm, and assaulting a federal officer. David Milam, aka “DC,” age 39, pled...

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...

WILMINGTON, N.C. – Dr. Mark S.T. Armitage, a physician practicing with Pelican Family Medicine in Wilmington, North Carolina, agreed to pay $170,000 to resolve alleged violations of the Controlled Substances Act. Dr. Armitage, who previously surrendered his Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration to prescribe controlled substances, further agreed not to...

NEW BERN, N.C. – A Fayetteville, North Carolina man who now has ten felony convictions was sentenced today to 240 months in prison for drug conspiracy charges involving heroin and fentanyl, possession with intent to distribute heroin, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense. On...