United States Drug Enforcement Administration

FORT MYERS, F l a . – U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber sentenced Shauntavus Berklin (34, Fort Myers) to 15 years in federal prison for possessing firearms as a convicted felon and distributing fentanyl. The court also ordered Berklin to forfeit the firearms he illegally had possessed. Berklin had...

TAMPA, Fla. – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced that Hector Enrique Veliz Villeda (30, Hialeah) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine. Veliz Villeda faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years, and up to life, in federal prison. A sentencing date has...

TAMPA, Fla. – U.S. District Judge Mary S. Scriven sentenced Virginia Garcia Moreta (35, Tampa) and Hector Rodriguez Mendez (47, Tampa) to 70 and 63 months in federal prison, respectively, for conspiring to commit money laundering. As part of their sentences, the court also entered an order of forfeiture in...

MADISON, Wis. – John G. McGarry, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Wisconsin, and U.S. Attorney Timothy M. O'Shea for the Western District of Wisconsin announced that Dery McDuffy, 33, of Chicago, was charged with drug offenses involving heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine, in an indictment returned Oct...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Todd C. Smith, Assistant Special Agent in Charge at U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Chicago Field Division, and U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Harris for the Central District of Illinois announced that Tyrell Harris, 29, of Springfield, Illinois, was sentenced on Oct.18, 2022, to concurrent sentences of 57 months’...

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Alfred A. Cooke, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Merrillville, Indiana, and U.S. Attorney Clifford D. Johnson for the Northern District of Indiana announced that Frances Bianco, of South Bend, Indiana, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Damon R. Leichty on her...

ROCKFORD, Ill. — Robert J. Bell, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Chicago Field Division, and U.S. Attorney John R. Lausch, Jr., for the Northern District of Illinois announced that Rayloe Jackson, 46, of Maywood, Illinois, has been sentenced to over 10 years in federal prison for...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – With the sentencing of the last of 16 defendants, federal prosecutors concluded prosecution of a large-scale methamphetamine trafficking organization operating primarily within Franklin and Gulf Counties. The convictions and sentences were announced by Jason R. Coody, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida. “Cooperative and...

MIAMI – A South Florida fentanyl dealer whose product killed a man was sentenced this week to 20 years in federal prison for the distribution of a controlled substance. On April 15, 2021, Donte McCray met with another man at a 7-11 convenience store in Lake Worth, Fla., with the...

WASHINGTON – A federal court issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting a Tampa-area clinic, its operators and a doctor from administering, dispensing or distributing any controlled substances, including issuing prescriptions for opioids, the Department of Justice announced. In a complaint filed on Oct. 11 and unsealed Oct. 14, the United...