United States Drug Enforcement Administration

TAMPA, FL – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that Jorge Hernan Gonzalez-Ortiz, 50, of Colombia, and Carlos Andres Aldana-Gil, 43, also of Colombia, have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States. Each faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison. A sentencing date...

MIAMI – Four South Florida residents have been sentenced to federal prison for distributing fentanyl and meth. On Jan. 16, Gito St. Fort, 35, of West Palm Beach, Fla., a career criminal, was sentenced to 320 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to distribution of a controlled substance resulting...

MIAMI– On Dec. 10, Blake Alfonso Kolessa, 27, of Greenacres, Fla., was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks for possessing with intent to distribute metonitazene, N-desethyl isotonitazene, and methamphetamine. Kolessa previously pled guilty...

Orlando, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that a federal jury has found Billy Ruiz (46, California) guilty of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and distribution and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Ruiz faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison on each count. His...

HARTFORD, Conn. - Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that TARA SEVERINO, 58, of West Haven, has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny in Hartford to two years of probation, the first six months of which Severino must serve...

BOSTON – A Lebanese man has been sentenced for his for his participation in a money laundering conspiracy. Andres Rached Farah, 55, a Lebanese citizen who resided in Colombia, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to 52 months in prison. In August 2024, Farah pleaded guilty...

HARTFORD, Conn. - Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Stephen Belleau, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England, today announced that a federal grand jury in Hartford has returned an indictment charging ROBERTO LOZADA, also known as Roberto...

BOSTON – A Cranston, R.I. man was sentenced in federal court in Boston for his involvement in a drug trafficking organization (DTO) that distributed fentanyl throughout Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Mario Rafael Dominguez-Ortiz, 27, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs to one year and a...

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that YOANNI SUAREZ, also known as “Cuba,” 48, last residing in Springfield, Massachusetts, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 84 months of imprisonment, followed by four years of...

HARTFORD, Conn. - Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced GODFREY SMITH, also known as “Mike” and “Mikey, 41, of Hartford, pleaded guilty today in Bridgeport federal court to a methamphetamine trafficking charge. According to court documents and statements made in court, in April 2024...