DEA Archived Press Releases

Press Releases before January 20, 2025
134 Results - Showing 121 to 130
PRESS RELEASE

Multi-Agency Operation Nets more than 70 arrests in Highlands County

SEBRING, Fla . – On September 30, 2010, a multi-agency federal, state, and local task force conducted an operation in which more than 70 people were arrested on drug trafficking and gun marcharges. For more than a year, federal, state, and local law enforcement worked on a massive operation dubbed...
PRESS RELEASE

DEA disrupts illegal steroid operation in West Virginia

HUNTINGTON, Wv. – The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) today announced that it has effectively dismantled an illegal steroid manufacturing and distribution facility, operating out of a private residence in Huntington. DEA Special Agents, working closely with their law enforcement partners, discovered a fully-operational clandestine laboratory used to manufacture illegal steroids...
PRESS RELEASE

International law enforcement operation targeting opioid traffickers on the Darknet results in over 170 arrests worldwide and the seizure of weapons, drugs and over $6.5 million

WASHINGTON – Today, the Department of Justice, through the Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement team, joined Europol to announce the results of Operation DisrupTor, a coordinated international effort to disrupt opioid trafficking on the Darknet. The operation, which was conducted across the United States and Europe, demonstrates the continued...
PRESS RELEASE

Former Union General Hospital CEO and two Blairsville doctors sentenced to federal prison for illegally prescribing and obtaining pain pills

GAINESVILLE, Ga. - John Michael “Mike” Gowder, James Heaton, and George David Gowder have been sentenced to federal prison. Both Mike Gowder and Heaton were convicted on October 24, 2019, after a two-week jury trial on 102 counts related to illegally prescribing and obtaining more than 15,000 doses of prescription...
PRESS RELEASE

Indiana Doctor and Two Nurse Practitioners Arrested

CHICAGO – Special Agent in Charge Robert J. Bell, DEA Chicago Division, announced today that the DEA Merrillville Resident Office and their state and local counterparts arrested the following defendants: Geoffrey O. Onyeukwu, MD, 69, Gary, Indiana; Nurse Practitioner Akeem O. Kareem, 47, Crown Point, Indiana; and Nurse Practitioner Francis...
PRESS RELEASE

Baxley pharmacist sentenced to four years in federal prison for conspiracy involving healthcare fraud, opioids

BRUNSWICK, Ga. - A pharmacist who owned and ran Fulghum Pharmacy in Baxley, Ga. was sentenced today to 48 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to a conspiracy that involved health care fraud and illegal distribution of opioids. Ray Ashley Dixon, R.Ph., 42, of Baxley, Georgia, was sentenced by...
PRESS RELEASE

Texas bodybuilder charged with conspiracy to sell steroids

HOUSTON - A north Texas bodybuilder has been charged with conspiring to sell steroids, announced Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Steven S. Whipple, Houston Division and U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox. Philip Russell Archibald, 29, of Lancaster, was charged via criminal complaint with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances...
PRESS RELEASE

Concord, N.C. man pleads guilty to unlawful distribution of anabolic steroids

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – U.S. Attorney Andrew Murray announced that Daniel John Hodges, 25, of Concord, North Carolina. appeared in federal court today before U.S. Magistrate Judge David C. Keesler, and pleaded guilty to unlawful distribution of anabolic steroids. Special Agent in Charge Robert J. Murphy of the Atlanta Field Division...
PRESS RELEASE

Harris County man sentenced for distributing anabolic steroids

MARSHALL, Texas – A 31-year-old Hallsville, Texas man has been sentenced to federal prison for drug trafficking violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Eduardo A. Chavez nd U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown today. Mark McLean Farmer pleaded guilty on Aug. 16...
PRESS RELEASE

Virginia man producing dangerous anabolic steroids and masking agents in his basement, selling them on social media, sentenced to prison

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – An Alexandria man was sentenced to five years in prison for manufacturing and distributing anabolic steroids and money laundering. According to court documents, John Russell Kestel, 38, ran an anabolic steroid manufacturing and distribution conspiracy for at least three years. Kestel imported raw steroid powders from China...