ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Jeffery Dean Biddle, 41, of Deming, New Mexico, made an initial appearance in federal court on March 2 facing charges of production and attempted production of child pornography, receipt and attempted receipt of child pornography, and enticement and attempted enticement. Biddle will remain in custody pending a...

EL PASO – A Mexican national was sentenced today to life in prison for his role in the Sinaloa Cartel’s narcotics distribution operations. According to court documents, Arturo Shows Urquidi, aka “Chous,” 50, of Juarez, was a former Chihuahua State police officer and a long-time member of the Sinaloa Cartel...

EL PASO – The Drug Enforcement Administration’s El Paso Division has a new Special Agent in Charge (SAC). On Friday Feb. 18, 2022, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram named Greg Millard as the new SAC of the El Paso Division, which serves New Mexico and West Texas. Millard came to El...

PECOS – Yesterday, a New Mexico man was sentenced to 240 months in prison for importing and possessing methamphetamine and 60 months in prison for a firearm charge. According to court documents, Jarod Richard Melancon, 38, was arrested on May 5, 2021, after a federal search warrant was executed on...

EL PASO – On February 23, a Mexican national was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in a large marijuana conspiracy. According to court documents, Victor Gerardo Villegas, aka Victor Gerardo Villegas-Villalva, Gera, 34, of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, was a member of the Gente Nueva de...

SAN DIEGO – Suspected drug trafficker Rafael Orlando Ramirez Barillas, a Guatemalan national who was extradited to the United States from Guatemala on Thursday, February 10, 2022 to face international cocaine trafficking and maritime smuggling charges in the Southern District of California, appeared in federal court today and was ordered...

SAN DIEGO – Jahvaris Lamoun Springfield was sentenced in federal court today to 300 months in prison for selling the fentanyl pills that resulted in the fatal overdose of U.S. Army veteran Brendan James Gallagher on February 5, 2019. This is the longest sentence to date in this district for...

SAN DIEGO – Brayan Alberto Rodriguez-Alcala, an alleged Sinaloa Cartel drug trafficker, was extradited to the United States from Ecuador today. On October 19, 2021, a federal grand jury sitting in the Southern District of California returned an indictment charging Rodriguez-Alcala with participating in a long-running worldwide conspiracy to traffic...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Gabriel Monico Guevara, 40, of Albuquerque, made an initial appearance in federal court today, facing charges of possessing firearms during, in relation to or in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense and possession with intent to distribute marijuana. Guevara will remain in custody pending a preliminary and...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Dennis Dean Garcia, Jr., 34, of Grants, New Mexico, was arraigned in federal court on Feb. 2 on one count each of possession with intent to distribute 50 grams and more of methamphetamine and attempt to provide contraband in prison. Garcia was indicted by a federal grand...