United States Drug Enforcement Administration

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...

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...

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...

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...

TAMPA, Fla. - Carlos Chavez-Aguirre, 35, Yesid Caicedo Asprilla, 50, and David Hurtado Vallecilla, 45, all Colombian nationals, were sentenced to 20, 12, and 11 years, respectively, in federal prison terms for conspiracy to distribute and to possess with the intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine while...

MIAMI - Dr. Rodolfo Gonzalez Garcia, 65, of Weston, Florida, was sentenced yesterday to eight years in prison, after previously pleading guilty to conspiring to dispense a controlled substance, Oxycodone. According to the court record, including the agreed upon factual proffers in support of the defendants’ guilty pleas, from November...

TAMPA, Fla. – A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging David Burkes, 51, of Safety Harbor, with conspiring to distribute a substance that contained a mixture of fentanyl, and acetyl fentanyl, causing the death of one individual and the serious injury to another. If convicted, Burkes faces a...

OCALA, Fla. - Deandre Amaad Williams, 29 of Ocala, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for conspiring to distribute cocaine, heroin and fentanyl. Williams had pleaded guilty on July 19, 2019. According to court documents, between January 2012 and May 2019, Williams was a member of a conspiracy...

TAMPA, Fla. - An indictment charging 11 individuals with federal drug trafficking offenses was unsealed today. The 11 indicted are charged with conspiracy to distribute heroin, fentanyl and cocaine. If convicted, each faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in federal prison. They are as follows: Ahmad Rashad Weston, aka...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Patrick Lemuel Bass of Taylor County, was sentenced to eight years in prison for his part in methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy. Bass is the last of 25 defendants sentenced in a large-scale methamphetamine trafficking organization operating primarily within Taylor and Madison counties in Florida, and Colquitt County, Georgia...