DEA Archived Press Releases

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

Flight Attendant Pleads Guilty to Possessing Fentanyl with the Intent to Distribute

SAN DIEGO - Terese L. White, a flight attendant residing in Dallas, Texas, has pleaded guilty in federal court to a drug-trafficking charge, admitting that she used her privileges as a flight attendant to bypass the more robust security screening process at San Diego International Airport in order to smuggle...
PRESS RELEASE

Doctor and Office Manager Indicted in Scheme to Defraud Medicare, Manufacture and Distribute Fentanyl

SAN DIEGO - Dr. David J. Smith, a pain management physician, and his office manager, Julia Ann Oertle, are charged in a federal grand-jury indictment with perpetuating a long-running scheme to commit healthcare fraud and to manufacture and distribute adulterated fentanyl. Smith made his initial appearance today before U.S. Magistrate...
PRESS RELEASE

San Diego Resident Sentenced to 15 Years for His Role in Fatal Fentanyl Overdose

SAN DIEGO - Drug dealer Saul Caro was sentenced in federal court today to 15 years in prison for providing the fentanyl that resulted in the overdose death of a 35-year-old business owner who lived in downtown San Diego. Caro pleaded guilty on June 1, 2022, admitting that he sold...
PRESS RELEASE

Fentanyl Dealers Plead Guilty in Relation to Overdose Death of Oklahoma Man

DALLAS, TX - A Wichita Falls drug dealer and his ex-girlfriend who sold fentanyl to 27-year-old man who overdosed and died in June 2020 have plead guilty to drug crimes, announced Eduardo A. Chavez, Special Agent in Charge of DEA Dallas. Lionel DeSaun Henderson, 33, and his former girlfriend, Shameka...
PRESS RELEASE

California Kingpin Found Guilty of Directing Drug Enterprise

DALLAS, TX - A federal jury convicted a California drug kingpin Monday of directing a continuing criminal enterprise by organizing and directing at least three separate methamphetamine conspiracies in Oklahoma and Missouri, announced Eduardo A. Chávez Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Dallas. Luis Alfredo Jacobo, 31, of Bakersfield...
PRESS RELEASE

DEA Gears Up for National Prescription Drug Take Back Day

SAN DIEGO - The Drug Enforcement Administration will host its 23rd National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, October 29, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This event offers anonymous disposal of unneeded medications at more than 4,000 local drop-off locations nationwide, to include 23 drop-off locations in San...
PRESS RELEASE

Law Enforcement Announces Creation of Fentanyl Abatement and Suppression Team and its First Prosecution

SAN DIEGO - The United States Attorney’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations today announced the creation of, and first case brought by, the newly formed Fentanyl Abatement and Suppression Team in partnership with the District Attorney’s Office, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Federal Bureau...
PRESS RELEASE

Former Angels Communications Director Eric Kay Sentenced to 22 Years in Tyler Skaggs Overdose Case

Fort Worth, Texas - Ex- Los Angeles Angels employee Eric Kay was sentenced today to 22 years in federal prison in connection with the 2019 overdose death of Angles pitcher Tyler Skaggs, announced Eduardo A. Chavez, Special Agent in Charge of DEA Dallas. In February, a federal jury found former...
PRESS RELEASE

Alleged Major Bolivian Drug Trafficker Extradited from Argentina to the United States

SAN DIEGO - Victor Hugo Anez Vaca Diez, aka Chi Chi, alleged leader of a large-scale transnational criminal organization, was arraigned in federal court yesterday following his extradition to the United States from Argentina. On August 18, 2017, a federal grand jury sitting in the Southern District of California returned...
PRESS RELEASE

Defendant Convicted of Distributing Fentanyl that Resulted in U.S. Marine’s Death

SAN DIEGO - A jury convicted Nameer Mohammad Atta yesterday in federal court of distributing the fentanyl that led to the fatal overdose of an active-duty lance corporal in the United States Marine Corps on May 21, 2020. According to evidence presented at trial, Atta sold fake “M30” pills containing...