United States Drug Enforcement Administration

DETROIT - Marcus Coates, 36, formerly of Detroit, Michigan, was sentenced today to 72 months in federal prison for his role in a money laundering conspiracy, announced United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade. McQuade was joined in the announcement by Joseph P. Reagan the Special Agent in Charge of the...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - William J. Pate, 45, of Columbus, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 15 years in prison for possessing cocaine and firearms in furtherance of distributing drugs. Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Joseph P. Reagan, Special Agent in Charge...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Rodrigo Ivan Cazares, 34, a legal permanent resident from Zamora, Michoacan, Mexico who resides in Artesia, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., for a narcotics trafficking conviction involving more than 4.5 (ten pounds) of pure methamphetamine. Cazares was sentenced to 168 months...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Simon Velazquez-Gonzalez, 27, formerly of Hilliard, Ohio was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 170 months in prison for his role in trafficking more than nine kilograms of methamphetamine. During this investigation, U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA) Agents seized more than 20 pounds of “ice,” a highly potent...

EL PASO, Texas - This morning, federal, state and local authorities arrested seven individuals for their role in a methamphetamine distribution scheme operating in the Odessa area. A federal grand jury indictment unsealed today charges those seven, along with 15 other individuals who were previously arrested, with conspiracy to possess...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Last week, a federal grand jury indicted eight individuals on heroin trafficking and money laundering charges based on a DEA-led investigation into an organization that allegedly distributed heroin in Taos County, N.M., announced U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez and Special Agent in Charge Will R. Glaspy of...

MARQUETTE, Mich. - Richard Jon Hill, age 39, known in the Ironwood, Michigan area as “Rock Star Rick,” was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison for his conviction on federal drug charges. The sentence represents the culmination of a two-year investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA) and the...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A federal jury sitting in Albuquerque, N.M., returned a verdict late yesterday afternoon finding Gabriel Mirabal guilty on narcotics trafficking and firearms charges after a six-day trial. The guilty verdict was announced by U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez, Special Agent in Charge Will R. Glaspy of DEA’s...

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Thirty-four individuals are facing federal and tribal drug charges as the result of an 18-month multi-agency investigation spearheaded by the Drug Enforcement (DEA) and Bureau of Indian (BIA) into methamphetamine trafficking on the Mescalero Apache Reservation. Eighteen defendants, including five members of the Mescalero Apache Tribe...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Victor Hurtado, 21, of Albuquerque, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court to 141 months in federal prison for his conviction on Hobbs Act, drug trafficking and firearms charges arising out of a pharmacy robbery in Jan. 2015, and a traffic stop in March 2015. Hurtado will...