EL PASO, Texas – With robust public participation over the course of 16 prior events, the National Prescription Drug Take Back Day Initiative continues to remove ever-higher amounts of opioids and other medicines from the nation’s homes, where they are vulnerable to misuse, theft or abuse by family members and...

ALBUQUERQUE , N.M. – A federal jury sitting in Albuquerque returned a guilty verdict against Yusef Casanova, 46, of Albuquerque, on methamphetamine trafficking and firearms charges today after a four-day trial before Senior U.S. District Judge James A. Parker. The verdict was announced by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred J...

PHOENIX – DEA announces the 17th National Prescription Drug Take Back will be held April 27, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. local time. Sites will be set up throughout communities nationwide so local residents can anonymously return their unwanted, unneeded or expired prescription drugs for safe disposal. (DEA cannot...

PHOENIX – The Drug Enforcement Administration Phoenix Field Division, along with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, announce the arrest of naturopathic medical doctor Jelina Ip and her mother, Alane Ip, following the execution of state-authorized warrants yesterday morning in Tempe. The Ips were owners and operators of Ava Pain Management...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A U.S. Magistrate Judge sitting in Albuquerque, N.M., found probable cause to support a criminal complaint charging Daniela Cota-Guitimea with a fentanyl trafficking offense. The charge arises from a DEA seizure of approximately 18.144 pounds of fentanyl in Albuquerque on April 16, 2019. Cota-Guitimea was remanded into...

PHOENIX - Special Agent in Charge Doug Coleman announced the arrest of Joshua Fassett, a 25-year-old Tempe man taken into custody by DEA agents. Fassett was indicted by a federal grand jury on April 10, 2019. The indictment and arrest of Fassett stemmed from a DEA investigation into the overdose...

ALBUQUERQUE , N.M. - Jesus Francisco Fernandez, 59, of Pueblo. Colo., was convicted by a federal jury in Albuquerque last Wednesday of possession with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine. According to court documents and trial testimony, Fernandez was riding a bus through Albuquerque on Oct. 25...

El PASO, Texas – The Drug Enforcement Administration urges its DEA-registered practitioners and members of the public to be cautious of telephone calls from criminals posing as DEA or other law enforcement personnel threatening arrest and prosecution for supposed violations of federal drug laws or involvement in drug-trafficking activities. DEA...

PHOENIX – Doug Coleman, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Arizona, announces the arrest of six subjects, including an admitted MS-13 gang member, and seizure of drugs and multiple weapons after a joint task force investigation with the Scottsdale Police Department. Agents and detectives initiated the...

DEA’s El Paso Division, which covers West Texas and New Mexico, is issuing this safety bulletin to remind the public not to purchase pills or medications from street dealers. Recently DEA El Paso learned that certain pills, which are being sold on the street and have similar markings to legitimate...