United States Drug Enforcement Administration

MIAMI — Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and more than 4,400 law enforcement partners recently collected nearly 630,000 pounds of unused medications at 4,600 locations nationwide. This effort to empty medicine cabinets helps prevent drug misuse before it starts. Since its inception, DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day has removed...

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...

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...

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...

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...

RENO, Nevada – Over 700 students representing multiple high schools and middle schools in Washoe County and Douglas County participated in the Northern Nevada Opioid Youth Summit, on Tuesday, September 24. ‘Avengers’ actor Jeremy Renner and ‘Wolf Pack’ announcer Taylor Morgan were among presenters, who stepped up to the plate...

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...

SAVANNAH, GA: A physician who operates weight-loss clinics in the Savannah area has agreed to pay civil penalties and to accept increased oversight to resolve allegations that he violated the Controlled Substances Act. Dr. Donald Lyle Gates, who operates three Savannah-area Scale Solutions clinics, reached a settlement with the Southern...

LITTLE ROCK—On July 30, 2024, in Houston, Texas, the Drug Enforcement Administration initiated the arrests of twenty-four co-conspirators following a superseding indictment in the Eastern District of Arkansas. The arrests follow the initial indictment and arrest of eighteen people from the Houston, Texas, area in November 2023. Defendants arrested in...

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – A district court judge sentenced two Columbus, Ohio, men to federal prison for burglarizing several pharmacies of oxycodone, hydrocodone and morphine pills with intent to illegally distribute the controlled substances. George H. Cunningham, 42, was sentenced to 100 months in prison and Tarvin M. Hamler...