DEA Archived Press Releases

Press Releases before January 20, 2025
39 Results - Showing 21 to 30
PRESS RELEASE

DEA Issues Public Safety Alert on Sharp Increase in Fake Prescription Pills Containing Fentanyl and Meth

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Drug Enforcement Administration issued a Public Safety Alert warning Americans of the alarming increase in the lethality and availability of fake prescription pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine. DEA’s Public Safety Alert, the first in six years, seeks to raise public awareness of a significant nationwide...
PRESS RELEASE

Southeast Missouri Health Organization Pays $1.6 Million Settlement for Invalid Prescriptions

St. Louis, Mo. - Saint Francis Medical Center of Southeast Missouri has agreed to pay more than $1.6 million to settle a civil suit by the United States, resolving claims under the Controlled Substances Act. The U.S. government alleged that Saint Francis employed a Farmington, Missouri, physician, Brett Dickinson, who...
PRESS RELEASE

Doctor Indicted for Illegally Prescribing Controlled Substances

ST. LOUIS – A federal grand jury issued a 13-count indictment Aug. 18 against Matthew Steven Miller, D.O., charging him with illegally prescribing controlled substances and other related offenses. At the time Miller allegedly committed these offenses, he was licensed to practice medicine in Missouri, Michigan, and New Jersey. The...
PRESS RELEASE

Grand Jury indicts St. Charles Woman for Selling Prescriptions

ST. LOUIS – A federal grand jury issued a 25-count indictment Aug. 18 against Katie Diana Rooney charging her with health-care fraud and controlled substance offenses. At the time Rooney allegedly committed these offenses, she was a resident of St. Charles, Missouri. The indictment alleges that through fraud and deceit...
PRESS RELEASE

DEA Washington Launches New Conference Series to Work with Healthcare Professionals & Help End the Overdose Crisis

The DEA Washington Division, an agency currently working to expand partnerships to offer targeted, full-scope solutions for the drug problems in Maryland, Washington DC, and Virginia, today introduced a new webinar series, “Empowering DMV Healthcare Professionals.” The idea for this unique concept was crystalized during the pandemic, when overdose rates...
PRESS RELEASE

Second of Two Defendants Sentenced in Scheme to Steal, Sell Drugs from Nursing Home Patients

BRUNSWICK, GA - Two former employees of a nursing and personal care facility have been sentenced after admitting to a scheme in which they stole and resold prescription drugs. Rochella Ellison, 48, of Townsend, Ga., and Nadia Gibson, 38, of Jacksonville, Fla., each were sentenced to probation after pleading guilty...
PRESS RELEASE

Owner of Savannah-Area Clinic Charged for Role in Providing Access to Notorious ‘Pill Mill’ Doctor

SAVANNAH, GA - A Garden City, Ga., clinic owner and CEO has been indicted for operating a clinic that provided a base from which a notorious “pill mill” doctor dispensed massive amounts of controlled substances. In a five-count indictment returned by a U.S. District Court grand jury, Jamesetta Whipple-Duncan, 58...
PRESS RELEASE

Dark Web Trafficker Pleads Guilty to Distributing Opioids

ALEXANDRIA, Va., – A Florida man pleaded guilty today to unlawfully distributing thousands of prescription opioid pills in exchange for over half a million dollars through the “dark web.” According to court documents, between 2012 and 2020, Daren James Reid, 35, of Fort Lauderdale, used the dark web to distribute...
PRESS RELEASE

Valley Stream man arrested for allegedly using doctor’s prescription pad to acquire thousands of opioid pills

MINEOLA, N.Y. – Drug Enforcement Administration, New York Division, Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan and Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced that a Valley Stream man was arrested today for allegedly using a doctor’s prescription pad to acquire more than 13,000 oxycodone and morphine pills during a nine-month...
PRESS RELEASE

California woman sentenced to 27 years for meth conspiracy

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Pomona, California, woman was sentenced in federal court today for leading a conspiracy to distribute large quantities of methamphetamine in Jasper County, Missouri. Melissa R. Kivett, 42, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 27 years in federal prison without parole. The case...