United States Drug Enforcement Administration

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Danielle Simonson, age 52, of Fort Ann, New York, was sentenced today to 70 months in prison for distributing controlled substances outside the course of professional practice and for no legitimate medical purpose. United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman; Special Agent in Charge Frank A. Tarentino...

MINEOLA, N.Y. – Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced today that a Nassau County doctor has been sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for prescription practices that led to the deaths of five patients between 2016 and 2018. George Blatti, 78, pleaded guilty on October 10...

Baltimore, Maryland – At a press conference earlier today, U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron, thanked federal, state and local law enforcement partners in the fight against violent crime in Maryland. The teamwork, community-based partnerships, and strategic law enforcement initiatives helped make a difference in reducing homicides in Baltimore in 2023...

WASHINGTON, D.C.– A 19-count indictment charges eight men from the metropolitan Washington D.C. area with participating in an interstate fentanyl and cocaine conspiracy believed responsible for distributing multi-kilogram quantities of narcotics in the region. The announcement was made today by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, DEA Special Agent in Charge...

WASHINGTON, DC – On October 28, 2023, the community once again emptied their medicine cabinets to help dispose of old, unwanted, and expired medications. Nationwide, DEA and its law enforcement partners collected 599,897 pounds of unneeded medications at 4,675 collection sites nationwide. Locally, the Washington Division, which includes the District...

Washington, DC – The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will host its 25th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, October 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in more than 300 collection sites across Maryland, District of Columbia, and Virginia (DMV). Through a collaborative effort with local law enforcement...

WASHINGTON – This morning, law enforcement agents from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) arrested 12 alleged members of a violent drug trafficking organization (“DTO”), known...

Washington DC – The Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Division seized over 8.3 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl in 2022. The division, which covers the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia confiscated nearly 160,000 fake pills containing fentanyl, and more than 250 pounds of fentanyl powder throughout the year...

WASHINGTON – A federal court issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting a Tampa-area physician from prescribing opioids and other controlled substances, the Department of Justice announced today. In a complaint filed on July 18, and unsealed yesterday, the United States alleges that Dr. Neelam Taneja Uppal unlawfully wrote opioid prescriptions...

LYNCHBURG, Va. – A former veterinarian, who admitted to stealing opioids, was sentenced today to eight months in federal prison. Patrick Gries, 54, of Madison Heights, Virginia, pleaded guilty in January 2022 to one count of adulteration of a drug held for sale after shipment in interstate commerce and one...