DEA Archived Press Releases

Press Releases before January 20, 2025
379 Results - Showing 11 to 20
PRESS RELEASE

Covetrus Agrees To Pay $1,125,000 for Failing to Adequately Address Suspicious Opioid Orders and for Inadequate Recordkeeping Practices

BOSTON – The U.S. Attorney’s Office has reached a $1,125,000 settlement with Covetrus North America, LLC (Covetrus NA) to resolve allegations that it violated the Controlled Substances Act and related regulations. Covetrus NA, headquartered in Portland, Maine, is a company that distributes veterinary medicine to customers worldwide. Under the settlement...
PRESS RELEASE

Braintree Man Sentenced To 15 Years In Prison For Drug Trafficking And Money Laundering Charges

BOSTON – A member of a nationwide drug trafficking ring was sentenced on Oct. 25, 2024, in federal court in Boston for drug trafficking and money laundering. During the investigation, over 160 pounds of pure methamphetamine, as well as an AK-47, a Glock with no serial number, two loaded Smith...
PRESS RELEASE

Physician, Physician Assistant, and Practice Pay $300K to Resolve Controlled Substances Act Allegations

BERLIN, Conn. - Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Stephen P. Belleau, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England, today announced that Dr. STEVEN SHIFREEN, Physician Assistant CHRISTOPHER NORVAL, and MULTICARE MUSCULOSKETETAL MEDICINE AND PAIN MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES, P.C...
PRESS RELEASE

Winter Haven Woman Indicted for Fraud in Using Drug Proceeds to Purchase Home

Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces the return of an indictment charging Rose Esquilin Rios (34, Winter Haven) with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. If convicted, Esquilin Rios faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison. The indictment also notifies Esquilin Rios that the...
PRESS RELEASE

15 Defendants Indicted for Meth and Fentanyl Trafficking

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Fifteen more defendants have been indicted by a federal grand jury for their roles in a drug-trafficking conspiracy after law enforcement officers seized 100 pounds of methamphetamine and a kilogram of fentanyl pills hidden in a vehicle being transported from San Bernadino, Cal. to Springfield, Mo. Stevie...
PRESS RELEASE

Former Nurse Pleads Guilty in Connection with Diverting Fentanyl from ICU Patient

CONCORD, N.H. – A Northfield woman has pleaded guilty in federal court for diverting fentanyl from an ICU patient at Concord Hospital, U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young announces. Lisa Richardson, 48, pleaded guilty to one count of Tampering with Consumer Products. U.S. District Court Judge Landya McCafferty scheduled sentencing for...
PRESS RELEASE

Drug Trafficker Sentenced to 46 Months in Prison for Fentanyl Distribution and Money Laundering

OAKLAND, Calif. – Christian Grajeda-Varela, a Honduran national who pleaded guilty to fentanyl trafficking and money laundering, was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison. The sentence was handed down by the Hon. Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr., United States District Judge. Grajeda-Varela, 25, was charged by indictment on Aug. 2...
PRESS RELEASE

Multiple Pharmaceutical Distributor Executives, Sales Representatives and Brokers Charged in Connection with Unlawful Sales of over 70M Opioid Pills

HOUSTON - Charges have been unsealed as part of a larger enforcement action related to the unlawful distribution of nearly 70 million opioid pills and over 30 million doses of other commonly abused prescription drugs to alleged Houston-area pill-mill pharmacies. Three Houston-area pharmacy operators were also charged for their role...
PRESS RELEASE

Fourteen Indicted in Multi-State Drug Trafficking Conspiracy Linked to Deadly Fentanyl Distributed to Members of the Lummi Nation in Washington

SEATTLE – Law enforcement fanned out across the country and in western Washington yesterday arresting 17 people on indictments and criminal complaints for a multi- state drug trafficking conspiracy. The two-year investigation alleges that the trafficking ring has been linked to a fatal fentanyl overdose on the Lummi Nation reservation...
PRESS RELEASE

Boston Physician Resolves Allegations Of Improper Prescribing Practices Involving Controlled Substances

BOSTON – A physician who practiced at Brigham and Women’s Hospital has agreed to pay $25,000 in civil penalties to settle allegations that he violated the Controlled Substances Act by prescribing opioid controlled substances outside the usual course of professional practice. As part of the settlement agreement, Dr. Edgar Ross...