United States Drug Enforcement Administration

KANSAS CITY, Kan. - A Kansas City, Kansas, company entered into a civil settlement agreement with the federal government to pay $250,000 to resolve allegations that a retail pharmacy it owns violated the civil provisions of the Controlled Substances Act. Four B. Corporation, doing business as Balls Food Stores, owns...

WICHITA, Kan.– A Kansas man pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a firearm during a drug trafficking offense. According to court documents, Grant Lubbers, 37, of Wichita was arrested in April 2021 in Andover, Kansas. Law enforcement had been investigating Lubbers for fentanyl trafficking. Using a search warrant...

Houston, TX. – A federal jury in Houston convicted a Texas pharmacist yesterday for her role in a pill-mill pharmacy that unlawfully dispensed over 100,000 opioid pills in exchange for cash. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, from January 2014 to January 2018, Deanna Winfield-Gates, 54, of...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Mexican national was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and for illegally reentering the United States. Miguel Esquivel-Alvarez, 41, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs to 14 years in federal prison without parole. On...

WICHITA, Kan. – A federal grand jury in Wichita returned an indictment charging John Ray Gaffney, 45, of Wichita on one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Wichita Police Department are investigating the case. In a separate case, Johnny Lee Ivory III...

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – A U.S. District judge sentenced a California man to 21 year and 10 months in prison after he admitted to leading a drug conspiracy ring targeting communities in southern Illinois. Thomas Hines, 33, of Los Angeles, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute...

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White on Thursday sentenced one of the leaders of a murderous St. Louis drug trafficking organization to 20 years in prison. Maurice Herbert Lee II, 35, obtained bulk fentanyl and crystal methamphetamine from Arizona and supplied it to his co-conspirators, who sold...

TYLER, Texas – A Mexican national has been sentenced to federal prison for trafficking drugs through the Eastern District of Texas, announced Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Daniel C. Comeaux of the Houston Division and U.S. Attorney Damien M. Diggs today. Leobardo Hernandez-Hernandez, 34, pleaded guilty to...

SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio man was sentenced in a federal court in San Antonio today to 360 months in prison and 10 years of supervised release for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl resulting in the death of 20-year-old Isabella Render. According to court documents, Patrick James Hall...

HOUSTON – The charges against 39 individuals are the newest brought in the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Houston Violent Crime Initiative, conducted in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas and local, state and federal law enforcement. The arrests were made after a federal...