ALBUQUERQUE - Ivan Romero, 40, the leader of a heroin trafficking organization based in Taos County, N.M. pleaded guilty earlier this week to federal heroin and money laundering charges filed as the result of a 15-month DEA-led multi-agency investigation. His brother, Ricco Romero, 29, and his wife, Melissa Romero, 37...

SEATTLE - A Drug Enforcement (DEA) led task force conducted raids at 14 locations across King and Pierce Counties, as well as locations in Oregon, following a two-year investigation of a drug trafficking organization. Law enforcement searched residential and business locations in Maple Valley, Enumclaw, Ravensdale, Auburn, Kent, Federal Way...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Rachel Rangel, 29, of Anchorage, Alaska, was sentenced to eight years imprisonment on November 3, 2016, for her role in a narcotics trafficking organization. U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Gleason also ordered Rangel to serve five years of supervised release following her release from custody. On June...

SEATTLE - Eleven people were arrested yesterday in Washington and Nevada in connection with a large drug smuggling and distribution ring operating in four western Washington counties. An additional person was already in immigration custody. The arrests coincided with the execution of 24 court-authorized search warrants for properties located in...

SEATTLE - Six years after the DEA launched its National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, Americans continue to turn out in large numbers to rid their homes of unused medications, including controlled prescription (CPDs) such as painkillers, tranquilizers, and stimulants. The Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington State, Idaho and Alaska) made...

SEATTLE - Three people involved in an elaborate scheme to obtain narcotic drugs by using forged prescriptions both online and in person now face federal charges. The conspirators used stolen DEA registration numbers to create phony prescriptions while using various online tools to make it appear that the prescriptions were...

SEATTLE - DEA reprises this weekend one of its most popular community programs: National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. On Saturday October 22 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., the public can dispose of their unused, unwanted prescription medications at one of 156 collection sites in the Pacific Northwest, operated...

EL PASO - Samuel Velasco Gurrola, 41 years old, faces mandatory life in federal prison after a jury convicted him this afternoon of his role in a murder-for-hire Jurors convicted Gurrola of three counts of conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and four counts of conspiracy to cause...

BOISE, Idaho - Brian Weaver Cluff, 44, of Meridian, Idaho, was sentenced on October 12, 2016, in United States District Court to 322 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug crime. U.S. District Judge Stanley A. Bastian from the...

EL PASO - Christopher Chavez, 40, of El Paso, Texas, was sentenced today to 60 months of imprisonment, followed by four years of supervised release, for his role in a cocaine trafficking organization that transported large amounts of cocaine into Connecticut. Chavez also was ordered to pay a $25,000 fine...