KANSAS CITY, Mo. – An Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, man has pleaded guilty to his role in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine after law enforcement officers seized more than $1 million worth of cocaine from a rental truck that was stopped on Interstate 70 in Lafayette County, Mo. Luis Gerardo Nieto-Acosta...

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge John A. Ross on Wednesday sentenced a man from St. Louis County, Missouri, who sold drugs to a woman who later died, to seven years in prison. Donald Lawrence Bateman, 28, pleaded guilty in January to distribution of a controlled substance and possession with...

ST. LOUIS – A man from Texas on Friday admitted selling 1.4 kilograms of methamphetamine to an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent and giving the agent another kilogram of cocaine to sell. On Aug. 16, 2022, Marco Chavira met with the agent in El Paso. Chavira believed the agent was...

LOS ANGELES – The Drug Enforcement Administration Los Angeles Field Division today announced the results of a multi-agency investigation targeting a Sinaloa drug trafficking network operating within the Inland Empire. Operation “Hotline Bling,” which started in early 2023, culminated last week with 15 arrests and significant drug seizures, including methamphetamine...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – An anesthesiologist at a Lee’s Summit, Mo., hospital pleaded guilty in federal court today to illegally taking prescription fentanyl from the hospital. Roman Peplinski, 37, of Kansas City, Mo., waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Greg Kays to...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Cincinnati, Ohio, man was sentenced in federal court today for carrying thousands of methamphetamine pills aboard a bus traveling through Kansas City, Mo. Antuan McClendon, 43, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Beth Phillips to 11 years and three months in federal prison without...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Tulsa, Oklahoma, man was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a conspiracy to distribute large amounts of methamphetamine in southwest Missouri after law enforcement officers seized approximately 29 pounds of methamphetamine, approximately $57,000, and several firearms. Jeffrey L. Hughley, 39, was sentenced by...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – U.S. District Court Judge David W. Dugan sentenced Ace Hart, II, 45, of Las Vegas, April 16, 2024, to 11 years and eight months in prison for possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute it. Hart still faces unrelated charges of residential burglary in Madison County, Illinois. Judge...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City, Mo., man has been sentenced in federal court for his role in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin and for illegally possessing a firearm. John A. Caylor, 55, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Beth Phillips on Tuesday, April 16, to...

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Court Judge Stephen R. Clark on Thursday sentenced a man who bought 630,000 counterfeit Xanax and other pills on the dark web to five years in prison and ordered him to pay a $10,000 fine. Maximillian Gregory Verbowski will also be on supervised release for...