United States Drug Enforcement Administration

PHOENIX - On December 19, 2012, Doug Coleman, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement (DEA) Phoenix Field Division and U.S. Attorney John S. Leonardo announced that Francisco Alfredo Montes-Vargas, of Culiacan, Mexico, was sentenced to 292 months in federal prison, to be followed by five years of supervised...

PHOENIX - On April 25, 2012, a federal grand jury in Phoenix returned a 76 count superseding indictment against 11 defendants charging them with multiple crimes including conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana, structuring financial transactions through a domestic financial institution and promotional money laundering. The defendants are...

DEC 18 -- (Little Rock, Ark.) - Beginning in April 2012, the DEA Little Rock Tactical Diversion (TDS) began receiving information from various pharmacies in the Central Arkansas area regarding call-in and facsimile prescriptions written in the name of James Derek Johnston. Johnston, who is a Certified Public Accountant, was...

FORT SMITH, Ark. - Today Sheila Hayes, 39, William Hayes, 35, Daniel Lawson, 24, and Jesus Ordaz, 25, all of Fort Smith, Arkansas, were sentenced to a combined 61 years imprisonment for the distribution of methamphetamine. The sentences are the result of an investigation into a drug trafficking organization operating...

NEW ORLEANS - Tonta J. Octave, 34, and his brother Kavis Octave31,both residents of Vacherie, Louisiana, were found guilty in four counts of a five count third second superseding indictment for conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine (“crack”) by a federal jury after a two-day trial. Among other things, the...

NEW ORLEANS - Norberto Lazaro Delagarza IV , 24, resident of Laredo, Texas, was sentenced today by U. S. District Court Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle to 84 months imprisonment. In addition to term of imprisonment, Judge Lemelle imposed five years of supervised release following the term of imprisonment, during which...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - William J. Bryant, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Little Rock District Office of the Drug Enforcement (DEA) announced the arrests today of multiple individuals related to a federal indictment focused on methamphetamine distribution in the central Arkansas area. The organization at the center of...

NOV (NEW ORLEANS) - James L. Earls, Jr., 30, a resident of Houma, Louisiana, was sentenced in federal court on November 7, 2012, by United States District Judge Helen G. Berrigan to five (60 months) imprisonment for his role in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine base or “crack”. In addition...

PHOENIX - Agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA) along with various state and local law enforcement agencies executed 12 search warrants yesterday and seized more than 20,000 units of synthetic drugs in the second statewide enforcement action against the synthetic designer drug industry responsible for the production and sale...

OCT (PHOENIX)- - The Drug Enforcement Administration is warning the public about criminals posing as DEA special agents or other law enforcement personnel as part of an international extortion scheme. This criminal activity has occurred in the past, but is now occurring with much more frequency. The DEA Phoenix and...