United States Drug Enforcement Administration

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Joseph M. Arabit, Special Agent in Charge of DEA’s El Paso Division and U.S. Attorney Steven C. Yarbrough, announced the indictment of 18 individuals who allegedly participated in a tri-state drug trafficking organization that obtained methamphetamine from Arizona and Texas and distributed the drugs in Otero...

OCT 21 - LOS ANGELES - The one-time top leader of the Avenues gang in northwest Los Angeles and the lead defendant in a federal racketeering indictment who admitted murdering a rival gang member and ordered the killing of one of his underlings was sentenced this morning to 25 years...

SANTA ANA, Calif. - An Orange County physician who admitted that he illegally prescribed dangerous, addictive painkillers to “patients” he barely examined during meetings that were often held at Starbucks stores was sentenced late today to over 11 years in federal prison. Alvin Mingczech Yee, 44, of Mission Viejo, was...

HONOLULU - Defendants Roger Cusick Christie, age 64, and Sherryanne L. Christie, age 62, husband and wife, pled guilty today in U.S. District Court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard L. Puglisi to marijuana trafficking and tax offenses. Roger Christie pled guilty to conspiring to manufacture, distribute, and possess with intent...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Five residents of Santa Fe, N.M., were arrested earlier today based on a 16-count federal indictment charging them with Oxycodone trafficking offenses. Two other Santa Fe residents were arrested on federal marijuana trafficking charges and another individual was arrested on state narcotics trafficking charges. The arrests were...

EL PASO, Texas - In El Paso this morning, U.S. District Judge Frank Montalvo sentenced 25-year-old Julio Adrian Pesqueira-Galaviz, to the statutory maximum of 15 years in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release for his leadership role in a scheme to illegally purchase firearms in the U.S...

EL PASO, Texas - Thirty-three individuals have been arrested in El Paso for prescription fraud-related offenses, announced Special Agent in Charge Joseph M. Arabit of the Drug Enforcement Administration'(DEA) El Paso Field Division, Regional Commander Carey Matthews of the Texas Department of Public (DPS) and 34th Judicial District (DA) Jaime...

EL PASO, Texas - In El Paso, 36-year-old Manuel Gerardo (aka “Shorty”), an El Paso cell ringleader for the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes drug trafficking organization, will remain in federal custody pending trial for allegedly operating a Continuing Criminal (CCE) responsible for the smuggling and distribution of more than 1,000 kilograms...

LOS ANGELES - The Las Vegas Sands Corp., which operates the Venetian-Palazzo hotel complex in Las Vegas, has agreed to return $47,400,300 to conclude an investigation into the casino’s failure to alert authorities that a high-stakes gambler, who was later linked to international drug trafficking, made numerous large and suspicious...

LOS ANGELES - Thirty alleged members of two drug trafficking organizations that operated across Southern California have been indicted on federal narcotics charges following an investigation into the importation of cocaine and methamphetamine from Mexico into the United States. The indictment, which was returned by a federal grand jury on...