DEA Archived Press Releases

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

Charlotte Man is Sentenced for Prescription Fraud and Pill Distribution

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell sentenced Savonte Watkins, 46, of Charlotte, to 42 months in prison on drug charges yesterday, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Judge Bell also ordered Watkins to serve three years under court supervision after...
PRESS RELEASE

Armed Drug Trafficker with Multiple Criminal Convictions is Sentenced to 26 Years in Prison

ASHEVILLE, NC – U.S. Attorney Dena J. King announced today that Benjamin Dann Owens, 36, of Hayesville, N.C., was sentenced to 312 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl, methamphetamine, Oxycodone, and other narcotics as...
PRESS RELEASE

Major Indictment Targets Southeastern Drug Trafficking Conspiracy

STATESBORO, GA: A newly unsealed federal indictment charges nearly three dozen defendants for their involvement in a drug trafficking conspiracy centered in south Georgia and reaching into the Caribbean. The primary conspiracy charge in USA v. Morales-Jimenez et. al, dubbed Operation Carpet Ride, carries a statutory minimum penalty of 10...
PRESS RELEASE

South Carolina Man Sentenced to 15 Years for Selling Guns and Drugs

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – U.S. Attorney Dena J. King announced today that Santuron Cureton, 40, of Rock Hill, South Carolina, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and four years of supervised release for illegal gun possession and drug offenses. According to filed documents and court proceedings, between April and July...
PRESS RELEASE

Robeson County Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Distributing Thousands of Illegal Pills While Possessing Gun

RALEIGH, N.C. – A Robeson County man was sentenced today to 120 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute and possessing with the intent to distribute thousands of illegal prescription pills including oxycodone, oxymorphone, hydrocodone, and methadone. On February 16, 2021, Jeffrey Randal Brooks, Jr., pleaded guilty to the charges...
PRESS RELEASE

Prison Sentence for Perjurer Wraps up Prosecution of Middle Georgia Drug Trafficking Conspiracy

MACON, GA - Thirteen defendants have been sentenced to terms of up to 15 years in prison after an extensive operation that targeted a middle Georgia drug trafficking conspiracy. Eight men and four women were indicted in February 2021 under Operation Breaking the Bond, an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task...
PRESS RELEASE

DEA Atlanta Holds 22nd National Prescription Drug Take Back Day to prevent addiction and reduce overdose deaths

ATLANTA, GA– The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Atlanta Division will host its 22nd National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on NEXT Saturday, April 30 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This bi-annual event offers free, anonymous disposal of unneeded medications at more than 4,000 local drop-off locations nationwide. During DEA’s...
PRESS RELEASE

Georgia Fugitive Sentenced to 13 Years for Drug Trafficking

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Today, Chief U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced James Julius Lumpkin, of Sevierville, Tennessee, to 156 months in prison and five years of supervised release for drug trafficking, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. U.S. Attorney King is joined in...
PRESS RELEASE

Greenville Woman Sentenced to More Than 10 Years in Oxycodone Conspiracy

GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA — Keowsha Golden, 36, of Greenville, was sentenced to more than 1o years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute oxycodone. Evidence presented to the Court showed that Golden obtained prescription paper and then forged physician information to write prescriptions for 30 milligram oxycodone...
PRESS RELEASE

North Carolina Pharmacy Agrees to Pay $100,000 Fine

DURHAM, N.C. – Aspirar Pharmacy, LLC and Aspirar Pharmacy of Durham, LLC (collectively Aspirar Pharmacy), located in Cary and Durham, North Carolina, respectively, have agreed to pay the United States $100,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the Controlled Substances Act from 2017-2018 by filling prescriptions for a physician who...