NEW YORK - Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced this week that Oscar Valdez-Garcia, a/k/a “Pony,” an assassin for La Organización de Narcotraficantes Unidos (“La ONU”), was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman to 40 years in prison. Valdez-Garcia previously...

ORLANDO , Fla . –David Torres-Velez (48, Davenport) has been sentenced to 5 years and 10 months in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Torres-Velez had pleaded guilty on April 20, 2022. According to court documents, Torres-Velez was involved in multiple kilogram-level cocaine transactions over the course of 2020...

OCALA, Fla. – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced that Brody Kies (39, Webster) pleaded guilty to a four-count indictment charging him with possessing with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and heroin, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and possessing a firearm as a convicted...

ORLANDO , Fla – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced the unsealing of two indictments charging 13 individuals in 2 drug conspiracies in the Orlando area. According to the redacted indictments, the below individuals are in custody and charged with conspiring with each other, and others, to distribute and...

TAMPA , Fla . – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced the unsealing of an indictment charging Arnulfo Rodriguez-Munoz, (41, Fort Worth, TX), Enrique Velasquez (43, Dallas, TX), Heriberto Castillo, (44, Denton, TX), and David Ceballos (27, Alvarado, TX) with conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to...

WASHINGTON – A federal court issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting a Tampa-area physician from prescribing opioids and other controlled substances, the Department of Justice announced today. In a complaint filed on July 18, and unsealed yesterday, the United States alleges that Dr. Neelam Taneja Uppal unlawfully wrote opioid prescriptions...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Former Gadsden County Sheriff’s Office deputy Joseph Barnes, Jr., 54, of Chattahoochee, Florida, was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of giving a false statement to a federal officer. The sentenced was announced by Jason R. Coody, United States Attorney...

WASHINGTON – A federal court ordered a Tampa-area pain management clinic to close and directed the clinic’s owners and its former physician to collectively pay $600,000 in civil penalties pursuant to agreed resolutions in a case alleging violations of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the Justice Department announced today. In...

MIAMI - Today, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Miami Field Division has issued a Public Safety Alert to warn Florida communities of the increase of mass-overdose events across the state suspected to be related to drug supplies laced with a synthetic opioid. While law enforcement agencies continue to investigate these...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla . – Shawn Andrew Wilson (47, Fernandina Beach) has been sentenced to seven years and eight months in federal prison for possessing with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine and for violating the conditions of...