United States Drug Enforcement Administration

HOUSTON – A 40-year-old Mexican citizen has been sentenced for international drug trafficking and money laundering conspiracy, operating on behalf of the Gulf Cartel in Mexico, announced Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Daniel C. Comeaux of the Houston Division and U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani. Ezequiel Alanis...

AUSTIN, Texas – An Austin man and two co-conspirators were sentenced in a federal court in Austin for their roles in the distribution of fentanyl resulting in death. According to court documents, David Lee Jr., 46, of Austin, Virginia Zepeda, 43, of Austin, and Jackie Lynne Chester, 37, of Taylor...

ST. LOUIS – A man from Lake St. Louis, Missouri, on Monday admitted laundering money for methamphetamine dealers operating in the St. Louis area. Melvin Hayes, 66, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to misprision of a felony. Hayes admitted working on behalf of Demond Bernard McDaniels...

BOSTON – A coordinator for a large-scale international fentanyl trafficking and money laundering conspiracy, operating on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico, has been sentenced in federal court in Boston. Fermin Castillo, 43, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge William G. Young to 25 years in prison...

LAREDO, Texas – A 39-year-old man has been sentenced for possessing with the intent to distribute fentanyl, announced Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Daniel C. Comeaux, Houston Division and U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani. Jose Pedro Garcia pleaded guilty Aug. 8. U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo...

WASHINGTON – Federal and local law enforcement announced the arrests of 11 more alleged members of a fentanyl drug distribution network responsible for bringing hundreds of thousands of fake Oxycodone (M30) pills from California to D.C. Today's announcement was made by DEA Administrator Anne Milgram, U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves...

An investigation into fentanyl trafficking in New York City resulted in a significant seizure of 33 kilograms (over 65 pounds) of suspected fentanyl, including thousands of fentanyl pills, and more than 29 kilograms (over 45 pounds) of suspected methamphetamine in an apartment in the University Heights neighborhood of the Bronx...

BOSTON – A Colombian man has been sentenced in federal court in Boston for his role in a drug trafficking, money laundering and extortion conspiracy connected to organized crime in the Republic of Colombia. Fabio Yepes Sanchez, 57, of Medellín, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin...

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...

SAN FRANCISCO – The United States Attorney’s Office has charged Yessenia Margarita Barrientos-Lainez—a former employee of a money services business in the Tenderloin district—with conspiring to launder drug proceeds by wiring large sums of money abroad for a known drug trafficker in the San Francisco Bay Area, announced United States...