United States Drug Enforcement Administration

SAN DIEGO - Victor Hugo Anez Vaca Diez, aka Chi Chi, alleged leader of a large-scale transnational criminal organization, was arraigned in federal court yesterday following his extradition to the United States from Argentina. On August 18, 2017, a federal grand jury sitting in the Southern District of California returned...

SAN DIEGO - A jury convicted Nameer Mohammad Atta yesterday in federal court of distributing the fentanyl that led to the fatal overdose of an active-duty lance corporal in the United States Marine Corps on May 21, 2020. According to evidence presented at trial, Atta sold fake “M30” pills containing...

SAN DIEGO - Anthony Souza of Ocean Beach was sentenced in federal court today to 12.5 years for conspiracy to distribute 400 grams and more of fentanyl. Souza’s distribution of fentanyl resulted in the fatal overdose of 28-year-old Chad Stevens, also of Ocean Beach. According to his plea agreement, Souza...

SAN DIEGO – Lorenzo Anthony Garcia of Brawley, 23, was sentenced in federal court today to 130 months in prison and three years of supervised release for providing the fentanyl that caused the overdose death of Josue M. Garcia Moreno, a young football player from Central Union High School in...

SAN DIEGO – Kaylar Junior Tawan Beltranlap of San Diego pleaded guilty today to distributing a fake pill containing fentanyl that killed a 15-year-old Coronado High School sophomore, referred to in court records as C.J.S., on May 12, 2021. During the change of plea hearing, Beltranlap admitted to utilizing his...

SAN DIEGO – Cole Thomas Salazar pleaded guilty in federal court today, admitting that he supplied a fatal dose of fentanyl that resulted in the death of a 24-year-old woman who was found inside her Vista apartment on November 3, 2020. According to his plea agreement, Salazar used an online...

SAN DIEGO – Drug dealer Saul Caro pleaded guilty in federal court today, admitting that he sold the fentanyl that caused the fatal overdose of a thirty-five-year-old San Diego resident, identified in court records as M.S. According to his plea agreement, on April 11, 2021, Caro and the victim exchanged...

SAN DIEGO – In an effort to save lives, DEA is proud to join “Song for Charlie” and many of our valued public health, non-profit, and law enforcement partners in recognizing the first ever National Fentanyl Awareness Day. This day is an effort to educate individuals around the dangerous threat...

SAN DIEGO –Jonathan Mefford was sentenced in federal court today to 190 months in prison for selling fentanyl-laced pills that caused the death of a 20-year-old Chula Vista man, identified in court records as J.P., in October of 2018, and for distributing multi-pound level quantities of methamphetamine in Kansas. Mefford...

SAN DIEGO – Jahvaris Lamoun Springfield was sentenced in federal court today to 300 months in prison for selling the fentanyl pills that resulted in the fatal overdose of U.S. Army veteran Brendan James Gallagher on February 5, 2019. This is the longest sentence to date in this district for...