United States Drug Enforcement Administration

CHICAGO – Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram has appointed DEA Chicago Field Division Assistant Special Agent in Charge Sheila Lyons as the new Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Chicago Field Division. Lyons, a 30-year law enforcement professional with extensive international experience, becomes the first woman to lead...

DALLAS, TEXAS - A top source of supply in the Carrollton fentanyl overdoses case has been charged with a federal drug crime, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton. Jason Xavier Villanueva, 22, was charged via criminal complaint with conspiracy to distribute a Schedule II controlled...

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA — Patricia Ann Hemphill, 51, of Rock Hill, was sentenced to 3 years in federal prison after pleading guilty relating to a multi-state drug operation out of the Rock Hill and Charlotte, North Carolina area. Evidence presented to the Court showed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation...

Washington DC – The Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Division seized over 8.3 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl in 2022. The division, which covers the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia confiscated nearly 160,000 fake pills containing fentanyl, and more than 250 pounds of fentanyl powder throughout the year...

RIVERSIDE, California – Inland Empire law enforcement officials today rolled out a public outreach education campaign to address the ongoing fentanyl crisis and the skyrocketing number of fentanyl poisonings. Anchored by a new public service announcement titled “ Death in Disguise” that expands on the DEA-led “One Pill Can Kill”...

HOUSTON - Amid the growing fentanyl epidemic, the Drug Enforcement Administration Houston Field Division created an initiative to educate the youth and parents on the threat of fentanyl through partnering with several area school districts. DEA Houston Field Division, in partnership with Friendswood ISD, Pearland ISD, Clear Creek ISD, Alvin...

Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Brayan Contreras-Avalos, a/k/a “Anonimo,” “Humilde,” and “Malia,” age 28, of Langley Park, Maryland, late yesterday to the statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison on charges related to his participation in a racketeering enterprise known as La Mara Salvatrucha, or...

ANCHORAGE– The Drug Enforcement Administration is participating in an advertising campaign launched by the Alaska High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) initiative. The Save a Life campaign is designed to help communities partner with law enforcement in the fight against drug trafficking and to help prevent drug overdoses in Alaska...

Louisville, Ky. – The Drug Enforcement Administration seized over 50.6 million fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills and more than 10,000 pounds of Fentanyl powder last year. The DEA Laboratory estimates that these seizures represent more than 379 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl. 184,382 of those pills and 316 pounds of...

Dallas, TX – The Drug Enforcement Administration Dallas Field Division announces the seizure of more than 7,000 pounds of methamphetamine and over 1 million fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills during the 2022 calendar year, the latter representing more than 11.4 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl. Methamphetamine is a dangerous drug...