United States Drug Enforcement Administration

LOS ANGELES - A former baggage handler employed at Los Angeles International Airport was arrested Tuesday by authorities investigating the use of employee credentials to breach airport security. Alberto H. Botello, 23, of South Gate, was taken into custody without incident by officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the...

RENO, Nev. - Richard Winston West II, aka Richie West, former manager of the Jones-West Ford dealership in Reno, pleaded guilty today to prescription drug conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute oxycodone. Special Agent in Charge Steve Comer of the DEA’s Los Angeles field division, U.S. Attorney Daniel G...

LOS ANGELES - A federal grand jury has named a Jamaican man in an indictment that accuses him of supplying a Jet Blue flight attendant with nearly 60 pounds of cocaine that she attempted to smuggle on to a plane at Los Angeles International Airport. Gaston Brown, 39, of Jamaica...

LOS ANGELES - Special Agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration and Detectives with the Ventura County Combined Agency Team just culminated a six-month long investigation into a Ventura County based, poly-drug trafficking organization. During the investigation into Toribio Aros-Osorio’s narcotics trafficking activities, investigators determined large quantities of narcotics were being...

LOS ANGELES - Two brothers who owned a West Los Angeles pharmacy were found guilty by a federal jury today of operating a years-long narcotic drug trafficking, money laundering and tax fraud conspiracy that illegally sold prescription narcotics to black market customers across the United States. Brentwood residents Berry Kabov...

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Three defendants were sentenced to federal prison last week for drug trafficking, announced Drug Enforcement (DEA) Assistant Special Agent in Charge Matthew Barden and Kenneth Elser, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas. Santiago (aka Chuco), age 47, of Commerce, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 151...

SEATTLE - Cardinal Health has agreed to pay $34 million in civil penalties to resolve allegations that the Lakeland, Florida-based distributor failed to report to the Drug Enforcement (DEA) suspicious orders of Class II controlled substances by pharmacies located in central Florida and Maryland. The settlement also resolves a civil...

LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles man facing federal drug trafficking charges for allegedly trying to smuggle at least a kilogram of heroin on a plane leaving Los Angeles International (LAX) was scheduled to make his first court appearance this afternoon. James Mitchell, 25, who resides in Pico-Union, was arrested...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Today, Maurice Abad Malabed, aka “Moe,” 47, and David Patrick Christensen, 29, both of Anchorage were indicted by a federal grand jury in Anchorage for trafficking in methamphetamine bound for Utqiaġvik, (formerly Barrow, Alaska). The indictment charges Malabed and Christensen with conspiracy, attempted distribution, and possession with...

TACOMA, Wash. - An investigation begun by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the West Sound Narcotics Enforcement Team in February 2014 resulted today in the arrest of 19 people with ties to a methamphetamine distribution ring. Law enforcement served 24 search warrants on locations in Washington and Arizona in connection...