United States Drug Enforcement Administration

PHOENIX - DEA announced the 15th National Prescription Drug Take-Back will take place April 28th from 10 am-2 pm local time. Sites will be set up throughout communities nationwide so local residents can anonymously return their unwanted, unneeded, or expired prescription drugs for safe disposal. (DEA cannot accept liquids, needles...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The manager of a Springfield, Ill., establishment known as Mystic Enchantments has been arrested and charged by complaint in an ongoing investigation of distribution of synthetic cannabinoids, known as Spice or K2. Letha Dean, 71, of Salisbury, Ill., was arrested on April 13, and was ordered detained...

PHOENIX - The DEA is alerting all law enforcement, first responders and citizens to the confirmed overdose fatality attributed to the very potent and highly dangerous drug, carfentanil. A review of overdose investigation records provided to DEA’s Heroin Enforcement Action (HEAT) revealed the incident occurred in late 2017. Carfentanil is...

TUCSON, Ariz. - The DEA announced today, along with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, the grand jury indictment of Dr. David Alan Ruben, a medical doctor and board certified psychiatrist. Dr. Ruben was indicted on a total of 26 felony charges, including Fraudulent Schemes and Artifices and Administration of Narcotic...

CHICAGO - The U.S. Attorney’s Office today charged three individuals with federal drug offenses for allegedly conspiring to sell synthetic cannabinoids at a Chicago convenience store. Fouad Masoud, Jamil Abdelrahman Jad Allah, and Adil Khan Mohammed conspired to sell the synthetic cannabinoids, known as “K2,” at King Mini Mart in...

PHOENIX - The DEA announces the conviction of Thomas Mario Costanzo, a.k.a. Morpheus Titania, of Mesa, Arizona, by a federal jury on March 28, 2018, on five counts of money laundering in Phoenix. This long term investigation resulted in one of the first convictions of a money launderer in Arizona...

CHICAGO - The vast majority of heroin consumed in the United States is produced by powerful Mexico-based transnational criminal (TCOs), such as the Sinaloa Cartel and New Generation Jalisco (CJNG), and transported to the United States across the Southwest Border. These TCOs are extremely dangerous, violent, and will continue to...

CHICAGO - On December 2, 2017 Kane County Sheriff’s Department deputies were dispatched to 44W307 Plank Rd in unincorporated Burlington Township for a report of a subject who may have overdosed. The subject, later identified as William Barrett, was pronounced deceased at the scene. Toxicology reports indicate that he died...

AMARILLO, Texas - Arturo Salazar, Jr., 41, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater to serve a total of 248 months in federal prison following his guilty plea in September 2017 to one count of possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine and...

PHOENIX - The DEA’s Phoenix Division has finished tallying the amount of drugs collected from those agencies who participated in the October 28th National Take Back event. Once again, Arizonans turned out in huge numbers and disposed of 11,668 pounds, nearly six tons, of prescription drugs. The total for the...