United States Drug Enforcement Administration

ALBUQUERQUE – This week, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the U.S. Marshal Service, the Las Cruces Police Department, and the Doña Ana Sheriff’s Office, conducted a coordinated operation to dismantle a significant drug trafficking network in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The operation targeted 15...

EL PASO, Texas – Twenty-one individuals suspected of being affiliated with the Chuco Tango street gang were arrested Thursday in and around El Paso on criminal charges related to their alleged involvement in trafficking of fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine, and/or the unlawful possession of firearms. The following defendants were indicted...

TAMPA – Today, a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)-led joint task force, designed to bring justice to Tampa’s most violent drug traffickers, announced the results of a 5-month, concentrated law enforcement effort. Deanne Reuter, the DEA Miami Field Division Special Agent in Charge (SAC), and Roger Handberg, United States Attorney (USA)...

SEATTLE– Ten members of a South Puget Sound drug trafficking organization were indicted following a lengthy investigation that uncovered the trafficking of marijuana to East Coast locales, and the importation and distribution of fentanyl and cocaine in Western Washington. Multiple search warrants were served this morning and eight people were...

EL PASO, Texas – A Mexican national was sentenced in a federal court in El Paso to 70 months in prison for possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine. According to court documents, Cesar Tarango Cobos, 42...

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA — Patricia Ann Hemphill, 51, of Rock Hill, was sentenced to 3 years in federal prison after pleading guilty relating to a multi-state drug operation out of the Rock Hill and Charlotte, North Carolina area. Evidence presented to the Court showed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation...

Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Brayan Contreras-Avalos, a/k/a “Anonimo,” “Humilde,” and “Malia,” age 28, of Langley Park, Maryland, late yesterday to the statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison on charges related to his participation in a racketeering enterprise known as La Mara Salvatrucha, or...

WASHINGTON –Five area men have been indicted on federal narcotics and firearms-related charges stemming from an ongoing investigation into a drug trafficking organization that operated outside a gas station and within 1,000 feet of a school on South Capitol Street. The indictment was announced today by U.S. Attorney Matthew M...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, announced that Luis Carlos Vásquez-Barragán, 51, of Nicolás Bravo, Chihuahua, Mexico, was sentenced to prison for possession with intent to distribute at least 50 kilograms but less than 100 kilograms of marijuana. Vásquez-Barragán was arrested...

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallaher sentenced Michael Fisher, a.k.a. “Mark Wilson,” age 47, of Laurel, Maryland, today to 17 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for his participation in a large-scale drug trafficking organization involving fentanyl, cocaine, and marijuana shipped from...