United States Drug Enforcement Administration

NEW ORLEANS - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam and U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that Noe Juarez, a resident of Houston, Texas, was sentenced today by a U.S. District Chief Judge to serve 365 months in prison for his role in a large-scale drug...

FORT SMITH, Ark. - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam and Kenneth Elser, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, announced that 12 defendants who were all part of a drug trafficking organization in the Fort Smith area were sentenced to federal prison this...

BATON ROUGE, La. - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam and United States Attorney Walt Green announced yet another conviction arising from Operation Goldy Locks, an extensive investigation into a multi-state heroin enterprise. Efrain Barajas, 27, of Hesperia, California, pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy to distribute...

NEW ORLEANS - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam and U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced the recent unsealing of a Superseding Indictment charging an array of federal narcotics and firearm violations by members of a drug trafficking organization operating in south Louisiana. The Superseding Indictment...

SHREVEPORT, La. - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge Eric Watson and United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced that a Shreveport man was sentenced this week to 240 months in prison for possessing methamphetamine, which he intended to sell. Lloyd E. Barmore, 34, of Shreveport, was...

LAFAYETTE, La. - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge Eric Watson and United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that a Texas man was sentenced to 120 months in prison for his role in a methamphetamine distribution conspiracy in Lafayette, New Iberia and the surrounding areas...

SHREVEPORT, La. - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge Eric Watson and United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that two Texas men were sentenced for conspiring to transport approximately 28 kilograms of powder cocaine. Ricardo Garcia, 28, and Jesus Christian Martinez, 34, both of Brownsville...

BATON ROUGE, La. - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge Eric Watson and United States Attorney Walt Green announced today that two more defendants have been convicted in Operation Goldy Locks for their roles in a multi-state heroin ring which involved disguising heroin as oxycodone pills in...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Dr. Robert M. Ritchea, 53, of LaGrange, Georgia, was arrested yesterday after being indicted by a federal grand jury, announced Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Stephen G. Azzam and George L. Beck, Jr, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama. Dr. Ritchea, who...

NEW ORLEANS - On National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day held on April 30, 2016, the New Orleans Field (NOFD) and its community law enforcement partners collected 35,993 - pounds of unwanted, unused and expired prescription drugs at 378 collection sites throughout the division. The amounts collected for each state within...