ST. LOUIS - A man from St. Louis pleaded guilty Monday to a murder-for-hire charge and a drug conspiracy charge and admitted trying to have a man who owed him more then $100,000 killed. Kevin Cunningham, 36, pleaded guilty Monday in front of U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig to...

SPOKANE, Wash – On Thursday, Scott Banchero, age 58, of Kirkland, Washington, was charged by federal criminal complaint with Possession with Intent to Distribute 500 Grams or More of a Mixture or Substance Containing a Detectable Amount of Methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A)(viii), according to Vanessa R...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City, Mo., man has been sentenced in federal court for his role in a conspiracy that converted large amounts of liquid methamphetamine into crystal methamphetamine at a rented house near George Melcher Elementary School in Kansas City, Mo. Ruben Ortiz-Vieyra, 43, a lawful permanent...

BOISE, Idaho - A Wilder, Idaho man was sentenced to 124 months in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl. According to court records, James Donavan Conour, 44, of Wilder, sold another person one pound of methamphetamine in exchange for $3,000 on January 21...

ST. LOUIS – A man from Hazelwood, Missouri, admitted on Tuesday to selling fentanyl that killed a Lake St. Louis, Missouri, man last year. Stephen Paul Jefferson Jr., 37, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk to a felony charge of distribution of fentanyl. Jefferson admitted...

ST. LOUIS – Two men from St. Louis County pleaded guilty Monday and admitted their involvement in a retaliatory murder in 2020. Cevone Weeden, 26, pleaded guilty Monday in front of U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White to two counts: conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute controlled...

SPOKANE, Wash. – Vanessa R. Waldref, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced today that Esther Rae Tuller, age 41, of Moses Lake, Washington, was sentenced today in federal court in Spokane for tampering with morphine medication while working as a registered nurse. Chief United States...

POCATELLO, Idaho – Melvin Misael Alcaraz-Valdez, of Declo, Idaho, was sentenced to federal prison for possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, announced U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit, today. Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye sentenced Alcaraz-Valdez to 135 months. 11 years, 3 months. Alcaraz-Valdez, upon completion of his time...

SEATTLE – A top leader of a violent international drug trafficking organization that distributed heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine in the Puget Sound region, pleaded guilty this week in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Luis Arturo Magana-Ramirez, 34, of Fife, Washington, faces a mandatory minimum ten years in prison and up...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Eighteen defendants have been indicted by a federal grand jury for their roles in a conspiracy to distribute large amounts of methamphetamine in southwest Missouri after law enforcement officers seized approximately 29 pounds of methamphetamine, approximately $57,000, and firearms. Brian E. Hall, 45, of Aurora, Mo., Jacqueline...