DEA Archived Press Releases

Press Releases before January 20, 2025
13 Results - Showing 1 to 10
PRESS RELEASE

San Diego Man Pleads Guilty to Supplying Fentanyl that Resulted in Deaths of Two in North Park Home

SAN DIEGO –Scott Anthony Sargent of San Diego pleaded guilty in federal court today, admitting that he supplied the fentanyl that caused the fatal overdoses of a 40-year-old woman and a 35-year-old man in North Park in 2022. San Diego Police officers, along with investigators from the Drug Enforcement Administration’s...
PRESS RELEASE

Trafficker Sentenced to 19.5 Years in Prison for Supplying Weapons and Ammunition to Sinaloa Cartel

SAN DIEGO – Keith Octavio Rodriguez Padilla, a prolific firearms trafficker, was sentenced in federal court today to 19.5 years in custody for his role in supplying weapons and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition to the Sinaloa Cartel. This case is part of a long-running investigation targeting the...
PRESS RELEASE

Narcotics Task Force Announces Marijuana Seizures

SAN DIEGO - This morning, the DEA San Diego Field Division’s Narcotics Task (NTF) along with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and Health Advocates Rejecting Marijuana, (HARM) announce the total amount of illegal marijuana plants seized in San Diego County in 2014. During calendar year 2014, NTF and our...
PRESS RELEASE

Doctor Sentenced To 57 Months In Prison For Selling Oxycodone Prescriptions To Addicts And Dealers For Cash And Gifts

SAN DIEGO - Del Mar physician William Joseph Watson today became the first doctor in the Southern District of California in recent history to be sentenced to federal prison for prescribing thousands of Oxycodone pills and other highly addictive painkillers without any legitimate medical purpose. U.S. District Judge James M...
PRESS RELEASE

DEA Seizes Methamphetamine Conversion Lab In Chula Vista

SAN DIEGO - DEA, with the assistance of the Chula Vista Police Department and San Diego County HazMat, conducted a search warrant at 754 Broadway, Apartment 23, Chula Vista, CA. There was no one present in the residence at the time authorities entered and there have been no arrests at...
PRESS RELEASE

DEA/Partners Take Down Alleged Cross-Country Drug Traffickers Dealing In Meth, Heroin, Cocaine, Fentanyl

SAN DIEGO - Fourteen alleged members of a cross-country drug trafficking organization are charged in a federal grand jury indictments with conspiring to distribute large quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and ultra-dangerous fentanyl to locations throughout the United States. Early yesterday morning, a contingent of federal, state, and local law...
PRESS RELEASE

DEA/DA Undercover Operation Stops Countywide Drug Manufacturing Operations

SAN DIEGO - Nine people are in custody following DEA’s takedown of Operation Shattered Dreams . Warrants served in San Diego, Spring Valley, Chula Vista, and El Cajon are the conclusion of a year-long undercover drug operation. The Drug Enforcement (DEA) served numerous search warrants from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00...
PRESS RELEASE

Alleged Sinaloa Cartel Leader Extradited To The United States From The Netherlands

SAN DIEGO - Jose Rodrigo Arechiga-Gamboa, also known as “Chino Antrax,” was formally extradited to the United States by the Netherlands today. Arechiga-Gamboa arrived at San Diego International airport about 2 p.m. under heavy security. He was flown in by the United States Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration...
PRESS RELEASE

San Diego Neighborhood Pharmacist Pays $150,000 Penalty For Mishandling Drugs

SAN DIEGO - The former owner of a San Diego pharmacy, Alma Jean Loechler, 66, San Diego, has entered into a civil settlement agreement with the federal government and paid $147,500 this week for allegedly mishandling significant amounts of highly-addictive and frequently-abused prescription narcotics. The settlement is with Alma Jean...
PRESS RELEASE

Columbus, OH Doctor Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy To Distribute Oxycodone

May 29, 2014 Contact: Public Information Officer Number: (313) 234-4310 COLUMBUS, Ohio - Terry Dragash, DO, 59, of Pataskala, Ohio, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court, in Columbus, Ohio, to conspiring to illegally distribute oxycodone. Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Kathy Enstrom, Special...