DEA Archived Press Releases

Press Releases before January 20, 2025
3161 Results - Showing 1 to 10
PRESS RELEASE

Leaders of Colombian Drug Trafficking Organization Plead Guilty to Conspiring to Smuggle over 43,000 Kilos of Cocaine into the United States

TAMPA, FL – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that Jorge Hernan Gonzalez-Ortiz, 50, of Colombia, and Carlos Andres Aldana-Gil, 43, also of Colombia, have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States. Each faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison. A sentencing date...
PRESS RELEASE

Four People Sentenced to Prison for Distributing Fentanyl

MIAMI – Four South Florida residents have been sentenced to federal prison for distributing fentanyl and meth. On Jan. 16, Gito St. Fort, 35, of West Palm Beach, Fla., a career criminal, was sentenced to 320 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to distribution of a controlled substance resulting...
PRESS RELEASE

San Diego Man Pleads Guilty to Supplying Fentanyl that Resulted in Deaths of Two in North Park Home

SAN DIEGO –Scott Anthony Sargent of San Diego pleaded guilty in federal court today, admitting that he supplied the fentanyl that caused the fatal overdoses of a 40-year-old woman and a 35-year-old man in North Park in 2022. San Diego Police officers, along with investigators from the Drug Enforcement Administration’s...
PRESS RELEASE

Trafficker Sentenced to 19.5 Years in Prison for Supplying Weapons and Ammunition to Sinaloa Cartel

SAN DIEGO – Keith Octavio Rodriguez Padilla, a prolific firearms trafficker, was sentenced in federal court today to 19.5 years in custody for his role in supplying weapons and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition to the Sinaloa Cartel. This case is part of a long-running investigation targeting the...
PRESS RELEASE

Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for Selling Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids

MIAMI– On Dec. 10, Blake Alfonso Kolessa, 27, of Greenacres, Fla., was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks for possessing with intent to distribute metonitazene, N-desethyl isotonitazene, and methamphetamine. Kolessa previously pled guilty...
PRESS RELEASE

Former Fugitive Found Guilty at Trial of Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine

Orlando, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that a federal jury has found Billy Ruiz (46, California) guilty of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and distribution and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Ruiz faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison on each count. His...
PRESS RELEASE

West Haven Woman Who Diverted Narcotics from Dying VA Medical Center Patients is Sentenced

HARTFORD, Conn. - Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that TARA SEVERINO, 58, of West Haven, has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny in Hartford to two years of probation, the first six months of which Severino must serve...
PRESS RELEASE

Defendant Admits Role in Fatal Fentanyl Overdose of Carlsbad Woman

San Diego – Bryan Kim Bullard pleaded guilty in federal court today to distributing the fentanyl that resulted in the death of a 25-year-old Carlsbad woman. According to the plea agreement, on September 9, 2023, Bullard’s co-defendant, Cameron William Fulston, reached out to the victim, identified in court records as...
PRESS RELEASE

Rhode Island Man Sentenced To Prison For Fentanyl Trafficking Conspiracy

BOSTON – A Cranston, R.I. man was sentenced in federal court in Boston for his involvement in a drug trafficking organization (DTO) that distributed fentanyl throughout Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Mario Rafael Dominguez-Ortiz, 27, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs to one year and a...
PRESS RELEASE

Three New Haven County Residents Charged with Trafficking Counterfeit Pills and Firearms

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Robert Fuller, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that on November 25, 2024, a federal grand jury in New Haven returned a nine-count indictment...