EL PASO – Last week, the New Mexico High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program (NM HIDTA) received a national recognition for its work in southeastern New Mexico under Operation Shape Shifter. White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Director Dr. Rahul Gupta made the announcement. The NM HIDTA...

POCATELLO, Idaho – After a four-day trial, a federal jury sitting in Pocatello found Adam Lee Vallely 46, of Pocatello, Idaho, guilty of one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, one count of possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, and one count of possession with the intent to...

EL PASO – Jennipher Talamantes, a counselor at an El Paso school district, and Jennifer and David Burke, the Executive Directors of Serenity Mesa Recovery Center in Albuquerque, were the only El Pasoan and New Mexicans invited to meet with Administrator Anne Milgram as part of the first-ever DEA Family...

SPOKANE, Wash. – On June 3, 2022, United States District Judge Salvador Mendoza, Jr., sentenced Lorenzo Jimenez Alanis, 47, of Mabton, Washington, to 15 years in federal prison for distributing methamphetamine, along with downloading and possessing a large collection of child pornography. Judge Mendoza also ordered Alanis to serve five...

Seattle – A father and son who ran a multimillion-dollar illegal marijuana business in Monroe, Washington, were each sentenced to five-year prison terms today, on drug and money laundering charges. Kenneth Warren Rhule, 28, was sentenced to five years in prison for conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana and laundering...

EL PASO – In the past few days, the Drug Enforcement Administration El Paso Division has learned of several instances of individuals who used illicit drugs and then experienced overdose symptoms. It is suspected that the illicit drugs may be mixed with a synthetic opioid. DEA El Paso Division has...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Jermaine Ryan Alvarez, 38, of Carlsbad, New Mexico, was sentenced in federal court today to nine years in prison for one count of possession with intent to distribute more than 100 grams of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of heroin and one count of...

SEATTLE– On April 30, 2022, communities across the country demonstrated their support for DEA’s annual National Prescription Drug Take Back Day by dropping off more than 720,000 pounds of unneeded medications at 5,144 collection sites. Since 2010, DEA, along with its law enforcement partners, has collected nearly 16 million pounds...

SEATTLE– In an effort to save lives, DEA is proud to join “Song for Charlie” and many of our valued public health, non-profit, and law enforcement partners in recognizing the first ever National Fentanyl Awareness Day. This day is an effort to educate individuals around the dangerous threat that fentanyl...

Seattle – A significant drug distributor for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to nine years in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Adrian Izazaga-Martinez, 32, of Kent, Washington, was ordering 8-pound loads of methamphetamine. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District...