DEA Archived Press Releases

Press Releases before January 20, 2025
345 Results - Showing 181 to 190
PRESS RELEASE

Alert – DEA warns of increasing extortion scam calls

SAN DIEGO – The Drug Enforcement Administration San Diego Field Division urges practitioners and members of the public to be cautious of telephone calls from criminals posing as DEA employees threatening arrest and prosecution for supposed violations of federal drug laws or involvement in drug-trafficking activities. DEA continues to receive...
PRESS RELEASE

Report fraudulent and suspicious pharmaceutical activities anonymously through the DEA San Diego RxAbuse Tip Line

SAN DIEGO – The Drug Enforcement Administration San Diego Field Division is announcing the RxAbuse Tip Line for the public to report suspicious, fraudulent, and illegal pharmaceutical activities. Tips can include information about doctors or pharmacists who are illegally dispensing medications, as well as information about people who are doctor...
PRESS RELEASE

DEA announces launch of Operation Crystal Shield

WASHINGTON – Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon today announced that the DEA will direct enforcement resources to methamphetamine “transportation hubs” — areas where methamphetamine is often trafficked in bulk and then distributed across the country. While continuing to focus on stopping drugs being smuggled across the border, DEA’s...
PRESS RELEASE

DEA releases 2019 National Drug Threat Assessment

SAN DIEGO – DEA Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon today announced the publication of the 2019 National Drug Threat Assessment, which outlines the threats posed to the United States by domestic and international drug trafficking and the abuse of illicit drugs. “This year’s report illustrates a shifting drug landscape in the...
PRESS RELEASE

Longest cross-border tunnel discovered in San Diego

SAN DIEGO – After a challenging multi-year, inter-agency investigation, utilizing technology capabilities, intelligence gathering, and community outreach, law enforcement partners on the San Diego Tunnel Task Force have exposed the longest illicit cross-border tunnel ever discovered along the Southwest border. The tunnel originates in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico in an...
PRESS RELEASE

DEA represented at Mall of America's "Government on Display" exposition

MINNEAPOLIS – Agents and staff from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Minneapolis District Office participated in the 21st annual Government on Display Exposition held at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, on January 25. One of 23 agencies represented, the event drew approximately 7,000 people to the booths located...
PRESS RELEASE

DEA agents in Iowa take more than $2 million in drugs off streets

DES MOINES, Iowa – Agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration Des Moines Resident Office partnered with the Mid-Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force, United States Postal Inspection Service and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations to take down 21 high-ranking members of the Jesse Sanchez Drug Trafficking Organization based out of...
PRESS RELEASE

“Pill Mill” doctor pleads guilty to opioid distribution, admits signing prescriptions for dead and jailed patients

SAN DIEGO – Egisto Salerno, a medical doctor practicing in San Diego, pleaded guilty to opioid distribution in federal court today, admitting that he signed bogus prescriptions for multiple deceased or incarcerated patients. According to his plea agreement, Salerno, 75, illegally distributed 78,544 hydrocodone pills. Hydrocodone is an opioid pain...
PRESS RELEASE

Local trafficker distributing methamphetamine in North San Diego County sentenced to 10 years

SAN DIEGO – Orlando Balderas Guerrero, of Menifee, Calif., was sentenced in federal court today to 10 years in custody for participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. According to his plea agreement, Guerrero admitted that for a one-year period, he obtained bulk methamphetamine from a broker in Mexico and...
PRESS RELEASE

Trafficker smuggling large quantities of deadly fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine sentenced to 168 months

SAN DIEGO – April Spring Kelly, of San Diego, was sentenced in federal court on Friday to 14 years in prison for conspiring to smuggle more than 450,000 fentanyl pills from Mexico into the United States during a nine-month period ending in October 2018. According to admissions in her plea...