DEA Archived Press Releases

Press Releases before January 20, 2025
23 Results - Showing 11 to 20
PRESS RELEASE

Ed Buck Sentenced to 30 Years in Federal Prison

LOS ANGELES – Edward Buck, a businessman and long-time figure of West Hollywood politics, was sentenced today to 360 months in federal prison for providing fatal doses of methamphetamine to two men who died at his apartment after he injected them with the drug. Buck, 67, was sentenced by United...
PRESS RELEASE

Santa Barbara Methamphetamine Distributor Sentenced to 180 Months in Prison

LOS ANGELES —The culmination of a three-month investigation resulted in a Santa Barbara methamphetamine distributor being sentenced on November 8, 2021 to 180 months in federal prison for narcotics violations. Cesar Castillo-Pena, 35, of San Bernardino, California, was sentenced by United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner. On July 28...
PRESS RELEASE

DEA Issues Public Safety Alert on Sharp Increase in Fake Prescription Pills Containing Fentanyl and Meth

LOS ANGELES – Today, the Drug Enforcement Administration issued a Public Safety Alert warning Americans of the alarming increase in the lethality and availability of fake prescription pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine. DEA’s Public Safety Alert, the first in six years, seeks to raise public awareness of a significant nationwide...
PRESS RELEASE

Federal Indictment Charges 19 in Alleged Conspiracy to Traffic Methamphetamine

RIVERSIDE, CA – Law enforcement authorities today arrested 12 defendants charged in a federal grand jury indictment alleging they conspired to traffic large quantities of methamphetamine from their suppliers in Mexico into and throughout the Inland Empire. The 19-count indictment charges a total of 19 defendants with one count of...
PRESS RELEASE

DEA Acting Administrator Timothy J. Shea and local law enforcement officials announce the largest domestic seizure of methamphetamine in DEA history

DEA Acting Administrator Timothy J. Shea and local law enforcement officials announce the largest domestic seizure of methamphetamine in DEA history LOS ANGELES – At a press conference today, DEA Acting Administrator Timothy J. Shea and Los Angeles Field Division Special Agent in Charge Bill Bodner announced the seizure of...
PRESS RELEASE

Attorney General William P. Barr Joins DEA Acting Administrator Timothy J. Shea to Announce results of Operation Crystal Shield

Los Angeles - Today, Attorney General William P. Barr and Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Administrator Timothy J. Shea announced the results of Operation Crystal Shield, DEA’s six-month-long effort targeting the command and control elements of Mexican cartels that operate major methamphetamine “transportation hubs” in the United States. At a press...
PRESS RELEASE

2,669 pounds of methamphetamine, two kilograms of cocaine, one kilogram of tar heroin seized in joint DEA investigation

LOS ANGELES -- On Thursday, February 20, 2020, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Riverside Office, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and the Inland Regional Narcotics Enforcement Team (IRNET) conducted a joint operation targeting a local drug trafficking organization. During the course of their investigation the investigators developed information about...
PRESS RELEASE

Federal indictments charge 14 members of San Pedro-based criminal street gang

LOS ANGELES – As part of a joint federal-state law enforcement action targeting the Rancho San Pedro street gang, authorities this morning unsealed two federal grand jury indictments that charge 14 members and associates of the gang with narcotics and firearms offenses. The main federal indictment, which charges 13 defendants...
PRESS RELEASE

Reno man sentenced to 15 years in prison for selling methamphetamine and heroin

RENO, Nev. - LeCharles Edward Baldon Sr. was sentenced Monday to 184 months in federal prison for distributing methamphetamine and heroin in the Reno area, announced U.S. Attorney Dayle Elieson for the District of Nevada, Special Agent in Charge Aaron C. Rouse for the FBI Las Vegas Division, and Assistant...
PRESS RELEASE

Meth traffickers shipped drugs to Hawaii disguised as Aztec objects

SANTA ANA, Calif. - Federal authorities this morning arrested eight defendants named in a grand jury indictment that alleges a scheme to send methamphetamine to Hawaii, including nearly 12 kilograms of narcotics made to look like decorative Aztec calendars and statues. Today’s arrests follow the filing of a seven-count indictment...