United States Drug Enforcement Administration

LITTLE ROCK— Eighteen individuals from Texas who are accused of stealing more than $1.5 million worth of narcotics from numerous pharmacies in Arkansas were arrested in Houston on November 28, 2023, following an indictment returned in the Eastern District of Arkansas. Seven defendants appeared on charges Tuesday before United States...

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...

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...

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...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Nor-Cal Pharmacies Inc., doing business as Lockeford Drug, and pharmacist/owner Lawrence Howen have agreed to pay $1 million in penalties to resolve allegations of violations of the Controlled Substances Act, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Brian M. Clark announced...

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...

NEWARK, NJ. – A New Jersey-based employee of an international financial institution was arrested today for accepting bribes to facilitate millions of dollars of money laundering, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) New Jersey Field Division Cheryl Ortiz U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced. Oscar Marcelo...

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – A New Jersey man admitted guilt in a U.S. District courtroom in southern Illinois Tuesday to acting as a middleman between an India-based pharmaceutical distribution company and customers in the United States. Moises A. Sanabria, 32, of Bloomfield, New Jersey, pled guilty to one count...

ST. LOUIS – More than two dozen people were arrested this week in connection with charges including drug trafficking and financial crimes, U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming said Thursday. The arrests by the U.S. Marshals, federal agents and local police follow a series of grand jury indictments. Thirty-four people have...