United States Drug Enforcement Administration

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, 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...

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – A federal grand jury in Charlottesville, Virginia has indicted 17 individuals as part of a large-scale drug conspiracy that distributed more than 500 grams of methamphetamine, fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine in and around the Charlottesville region. The 37-count indictment, returned under seal August 29, 2023, partially unsealed...

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...

Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Charles Benjamin Stewart, Jr., age 49, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, on April 18, 2022, to eight years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine; for illegally transporting a firearm obtained out...

Washington, D.C., – The DEA, along with its law enforcement partners, removed close to 745,000 pounds of unneeded prescriptions from medicine cabinets across the country this past Saturday, October 23rd, as part of DEA’s ongoing commitment to turn the tide against the U.S. opioid epidemic. Following last month’s 21st National...

Washington, D.C., – The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Washington Division will host its 21st National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, this Saturday, October 23 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This event offers free and anonymous disposal of unneeded medications at more than 4,000 local drop-off locations nationwide. For more...

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Defendants previously indicted and later convicted in multiple cases for their participation in an opioid, methamphetamine, and cocaine distribution ring operating in Okaloosa County, Fla., were sentenced last week in the Northern District of Florida. The prosecutions were the result of a large-scale multi-agency investigation spearheaded by...

NORFOLK, Va. – A Norfolk man pleaded guilty today to conspiring to distribute fentanyl and heroin, and to possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. According to court documents, Christopher McKinley Barnes, 36, sold heroin and fentanyl from late 2016 until he was arrested on April 16...