United States Drug Enforcement Administration

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – An Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, man has pleaded guilty to his role in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine after law enforcement officers seized more than $1 million worth of cocaine from a rental truck that was stopped on Interstate 70 in Lafayette County, Mo. Luis Gerardo Nieto-Acosta...

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Wednesday sentenced a man from St. Louis County, Missouri, who sold drugs to a woman who later died, to seven years in prison. Donald Lawrence Bateman, 28, pleaded guilty in January to distribution of a controlled substance and possession with...

SEATTLE – Together with its law enforcement partners, the Drug Enforcement Administration will host its 26th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, April 27, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This event aims to remove unneeded prescriptions from homes to help prevent medication misuse by offering anonymous disposal...

ST. LOUIS – A man from Texas on Friday admitted selling 1.4 kilograms of methamphetamine to an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent and giving the agent another kilogram of cocaine to sell. On Aug. 16, 2022, Marco Chavira met with the agent in El Paso. Chavira believed the agent was...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – An anesthesiologist at a Lee’s Summit, Mo., hospital pleaded guilty in federal court today to illegally taking prescription fentanyl from the hospital. Roman Peplinski, 37, of Kansas City, Mo., waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Greg Kays to...

PORTLAND, Ore.—A Central Oregon drug trafficker who conspired with others to traffic fentanyl and methamphetamine to Madras and Redmond, Oregon, and surrounding areas, was sentenced to federal prison today. Israel Sarabia, 30, of Culver, Oregon, was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison and five years’ supervised release. According to...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Cincinnati, Ohio, man was sentenced in federal court today for carrying thousands of methamphetamine pills aboard a bus traveling through Kansas City, Mo. Antuan McClendon, 43, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Beth Phillips to 11 years and three months in federal prison without...

FAIRBANKS, Alaska – A federal jury convicted a California drug dealer late Friday for his connection to the fatal fentanyl overdose of a Fairbanks man. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Junior Gafatasi Tulali, 48, was the original source of fentanyl pills that were sold to a...

Seattle – A 42-year-old Monroe, Washington resident was convicted today in U.S. District Court in Seattle of Conspiracy to distribute controlled substances following a week-long jury trial, announced U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. Humberto Garcia was arrested in December 2020 with seven other defendants tied to a drug trafficking ring...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Tulsa, Oklahoma, man was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a conspiracy to distribute large amounts of methamphetamine in southwest Missouri after law enforcement officers seized approximately 29 pounds of methamphetamine, approximately $57,000, and several firearms. Jeffrey L. Hughley, 39, was sentenced by...