SANTA ANA, Calif. - A Santa Barbara-area physician who wrote numerous prescriptions for powerful painkillers for “patients” - many of whom were drug addicts, and some of whom died from drug overdoses - was sentenced today to 327 months in federal prison by United States District Judge Cormac J. Carney...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - On November 12, 2015, a federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned an indictment charging 13 individuals with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, announced Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. The Drug...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Today, Carlos I. Arce-López, aka “Ferretero,” was sentenced to 14 years in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, announced Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. On April 23, 2015, the defendant pleaded guilty to three...

LOS ANGELES - A Rowland Heights doctor was convicted today of three counts of second-degree murder for prescribing massive quantities of addictive and dangerous drugs to patients with no legitimate need, three of whom died of overdoses. A jury of ten women and two men found Hsiu Ying “Lisa” Tseng...

LAS VEGAS - Mahesh Kuthuru, M.D., 47, of Henderson, Nev. pleaded guilty today to unlawfully writing prescriptions for oxycodone and other highly addictive prescription painkillers, announced U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden for the District of Nevada. Kuthuru, who was indicted in October 2014, pleaded guilty to one count of distribution...

LOS ANGELES - Investigations led by the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in the Los Angeles area have resulted in the arrest of over a dozen defendants allegedly involved in the large-scale manufacture and distribution of synthetic drugs that are commonly called “spice.”...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - This morning, the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task (OCEDTF) dismantled a drug trafficking organization responsible for the transportation of multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine and drug money between Puerto Rico and the Continental United States, announced United States Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez. The Drug Enforcement (DEA)...

LAS VEGAS - Federal charges have been filed against four men and one woman alleging they are part of a large-scale heroin trafficking organization that operated in the Las Vegas area since December 2014, announced U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden for the District of Nevada. Juan Almeda-Vazquez, 27, Maria Landin-Hernandez...

LOS ANGELES - The leader of an international money laundering organization, Gurkaran Singh Isshpunani, made his initial appearance in the Central District of California today. Isshpunani, the highest level defendant listed in a 22-person federal indictment filed in November 2014, is allegedly the leader of an international ‘hawala’ ring that...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - The people of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands discarded almost a half-ton of unused, expired, or unwanted drugs as part of the Drug Enforcement Administration’(DEA) National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day (NTBI) on Saturday, September 26. This past weekend, the DEA, with the assistance...