HOUSTON – A medical clinic office manager has been sentenced for operating a pill mill clinic that unlawfully distributed over 600,000 opioid pills, announced Special Agent in Charge Daniel C. Comeaux of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Houston Division and U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani. A federal jury convicted Andres...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Denver, Colorado, man has been convicted at trial for transporting fentanyl and methamphetamine through Kansas City, Mo., aboard a bus and for illegally possessing a firearm. Ahmad Rashad Rhodes, 44, was found guilty on Thursday, Dec. 7, of one count of possessing fentanyl with the...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Springfield, Mo., man has been sentenced in federal court for his role in a conspiracy to distribute large quantities of fentanyl and for illegally possessing firearms. Jerry Wheeler, also known as “Love,” 48, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark on Nov. 21, 2023, to...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – An Akron, Ohio, man was charged in federal court today with transporting more than 27 kilograms of methamphetamine through Kansas City, Mo., aboard a bus. Rogeric Romone Clark, 39, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., with...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Dixon, Mo., woman has been sentenced in federal court for possessing methamphetamine to distribute. Connie M. Gonzales, 53, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark on Aug. 31, 2023, to 23 years in federal prison without parole. On Nov. 17, 2022, Gonzales pleaded guilty to...

LAREDO, Texas – A 35-year-old Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer working at the Port of Entry in Laredo has been arrested, announced Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Daniel C. Comeaux of the Houston Division and U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani. Emanuel Celedon is set to make...

AUSTIN, Texas – An Austin man and two co-conspirators were sentenced in a federal court in Austin for their roles in the distribution of fentanyl resulting in death. According to court documents, David Lee Jr., 46, of Austin, Virginia Zepeda, 43, of Austin, and Jackie Lynne Chester, 37, of Taylor...

ST. LOUIS – A man from Lake St. Louis, Missouri, on Monday admitted laundering money for methamphetamine dealers operating in the St. Louis area. Melvin Hayes, 66, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to misprision of a felony. Hayes admitted working on behalf of Demond Bernard McDaniels...

PLANO, Texas – A Laredo man pleaded guilty to federal drug trafficking violations in the Eastern District of Texas on the day his jury trial was set to begin, announced Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Daniel C. Comeaux of the Houston Division and U.S. Attorney Damien M...

HOUSTON – A Texas doctor has been sentenced to seven years in prison for operating a pill mill clinic that unlawfully prescribed over 600,000 opioid pills in exchange for cash. A federal jury convicted Dr. Oscar Lightner, 73, Laredo, April 11 of unlawfully distributing and dispensing controlled substances and conspiracy...