DEA Archived Press Releases

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

U.S. Attorney's Office and DEA Announce Federal Charges Against Albuquerque Based Drug Trafficking Organization

ALBUQUERQUE – Five members of a drug trafficking organization based in Albuquerque have been charged in federal court with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. Tomas Rubalcaba, 45, Joaquin Rubalcada, 40, and Humberto Gastelum, 65, appeared before a federal judge last week and will remain in custody pending...
PRESS RELEASE

California Man Sentenced for Federal Drug Trafficking Charges

ALBUQUERQUE – A California man was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison for attempting to transport over 2 kilograms of heroin by train from Bernalillo County to North Carolina. There is no parole in the federal system. According to court documents, on February 26, 2021, Mario A. Serna was...
PRESS RELEASE

Simon City Royals Gang Leader Sentenced for Racketeering Conspiracy

Oxford, MS – A Mississippi man was sentenced today to 20 years in prison for racketeering (RICO) conspiracy, including murder, related to his participation in the Simon City Royals (SCR) gang. According to court documents, from 2016 until 2022, Allen Posey, 49, of Hazlehurst, Mississippi oversaw all of the criminal...
PRESS RELEASE

DEA-Led Investigation Dismantles Albuquerque-Based Drug Trafficking Organization

Note: View the Superseding Indictment . ALBUQUERQUE – Towanda R. Thorne-James, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's El Paso Division and Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, announced the results of a law enforcement operation that resulted in fifteen defendants being...
PRESS RELEASE

Court Sentences Mobile Man to 292 Months Imprisonment in Multi-Defendant Interstate Methamphetamine Trafficking Conspiracy

MOBILE, AL – On November 29, 2023, United States District Court Judge, Callie V. S. Grande sentenced David Erik Crumpton to 292 months imprisonment for his role in a multi-defendant interstate drug trafficking conspiracy. Documents filed with the Court established that Christopher Perales, from the state of Texas, would regularly...
PRESS RELEASE

Albuquerque Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Drug Trafficking Offenses

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Eric Castañeda, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s El Paso Division, and Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, announced today that Rafael Columbie was sentenced to 10 years in prison. A federal jury convicted Columbie, 54, of...
PRESS RELEASE

DEA El Paso Division Announces the Seizure of Over 9 Million Deadly Doses of Fentanyl in 2022

El Paso – A few weeks ago, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced the seizure of over 50.6 million fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills and more than 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder this calendar year. The El Paso Division, which covers West Texas and the whole state of New Mexico, seized 2,886,783...
PRESS RELEASE

Federal Jury Convicts Albuquerque Man of Drug Trafficking Offenses

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, announced that a federal jury returned a guilty verdict on Rafael Columbie on Dec. 1. The jury convicted Columbie, 53, of Albuquerque, on one count each of conspiracy, possession with intent to distribute 50 grams...
PRESS RELEASE

Sunland Park Woman Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Rosa De Santiago, 48, of Sunland Park, New Mexico, was sentenced in federal court today to 12 years in prison for her part in a drug trafficking and international money laundering conspiracy. De Santiago was one of 22 defendants charged in a 44-count superseding indictment on Aug...
PRESS RELEASE

Albuquerque man in court for drug and firearm charges under Operation LeGend

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Toby Randall Walker, 36, appeared in federal court in Albuquerque on Oct. 1 on multiple drug and firearm charges brought under the Department of Justice’s Operation LeGend. According to a criminal complaint, on Sept. 29, agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration encountered Walker and located 1,490 grams...