United States Drug Enforcement Administration

LOS ANGELES - Two men were arrested Tuesday at Los Angeles International Airport and charged in federal court with attempting to smuggle heroin in luggage on two commercial airline flights. Cristian Santos, 21, of Compton, California was arrested by special agents with the Drug Enforcement (DEA) after boarding a Delta...

LOS ANGELES - Addictive prescription drugs that are thrown away or left untended on shelves and in drawers at home are often stolen and either abused or sold by family members and visitors. That’s why the DEA and thousands of its state, local, and tribal law enforcement and community partners...

LOS ANGELES - As part of a DEA investigation stemming from a multi-kilogram narcotics seizure at Los Angeles International Airport last month, two men have been named in a federal criminal complaint that alleges they were key operatives in a drug trafficking organization that shipped cocaine and heroin from Los...

RIVERSIDE, Calif - Two men who were allegedly operating a “honey oil” lab in Cherry Valley when it exploded and severely burned one of them now face federal charges of operating an illegal drug manufacturing facility. Hector Gallegos, 34, of San Jacinto, surrendered to authorities yesterday and made his initial...

LOS ANGELES - Rite Aid Corporation has paid $834,200 in civil penalties to the United States to settle claims stemming from alleged violations of the Controlled Substances (CSA). The settlement is part of an agreement reached last week to resolve allegations that certain Rite Aid pharmacies in Los Angeles dispensed...

LOS ANGELES - A 28-year-old woman arrested early this morning at Los Angeles International Airport has been charged with trying to smuggle at least a kilogram of cocaine to her hometown of Detroit. Kennsha Mason, 28, was arrested by special agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration after boarding a Spirit...

LOS ANGELES - A former baggage handler employed at Los Angeles International Airport was arrested Tuesday by authorities investigating the use of employee credentials to breach airport security. Alberto H. Botello, 23, of South Gate, was taken into custody without incident by officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the...

RENO, Nev. - Richard Winston West II, aka Richie West, former manager of the Jones-West Ford dealership in Reno, pleaded guilty today to prescription drug conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute oxycodone. Special Agent in Charge Steve Comer of the DEA’s Los Angeles field division, U.S. Attorney Daniel G...

LOS ANGELES - A federal grand jury has named a Jamaican man in an indictment that accuses him of supplying a Jet Blue flight attendant with nearly 60 pounds of cocaine that she attempted to smuggle on to a plane at Los Angeles International Airport. Gaston Brown, 39, of Jamaica...

LOS ANGELES - Special Agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration and Detectives with the Ventura County Combined Agency Team just culminated a six-month long investigation into a Ventura County based, poly-drug trafficking organization. During the investigation into Toribio Aros-Osorio’s narcotics trafficking activities, investigators determined large quantities of narcotics were being...