RIVERSIDE, Calif. - The leader of a drug trafficking organization based in the Inland Empire was sentenced today to 168 months of imprisonment by United States District Judge Virginia A. Phillips. Salvador Gonzalez-Chavez, 32, Fontana, was convicted last September of conspiracy to distribute, and possess with intent to distribute, heroin...

SHREVEPORT, La. - Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Special Agent in Charge Joseph W. Shepherd announced today that a year-long undercover investigation resulted in 15 people being charged for distributing cocaine and methamphetamine in the Mansfield area. The charges and arrests are part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task (OCDETF)...

JAN 15 - LOS ANGELES - A “keyholder” who oversaw the criminal activities of the Azusa 13 street gang and its long-running plot to violate the civil rights of African-Americans in the City of Azusa was sentenced to 235 months in federal prison. Santiago Rios, also known as “Chico,” 48...

DEC 18 -- (Little Rock, Ark.) - Beginning in April 2012, the DEA Little Rock Tactical Diversion (TDS) began receiving information from various pharmacies in the Central Arkansas area regarding call-in and facsimile prescriptions written in the name of James Derek Johnston. Johnston, who is a Certified Public Accountant, was...

DEC 6 - LOS ANGELES - Law enforcement authorities this morning arrested 18 defendants named in three federal grand jury indictments stemming from Operation Roman Empire, a 2½-year investigation into South Los Angeles street gangs allegedly controlled by a Mexican Mafia member who directs criminal activities through his daughter. A...

FORT SMITH, Ark. - Today Sheila Hayes, 39, William Hayes, 35, Daniel Lawson, 24, and Jesus Ordaz, 25, all of Fort Smith, Arkansas, were sentenced to a combined 61 years imprisonment for the distribution of methamphetamine. The sentences are the result of an investigation into a drug trafficking organization operating...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - William J. Bryant, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Little Rock District Office of the Drug Enforcement (DEA) announced the arrests today of multiple individuals related to a federal indictment focused on methamphetamine distribution in the central Arkansas area. The organization at the center of...

NEW ORLEANS - Norberto Lazaro Delagarza IV , 24, resident of Laredo, Texas, was sentenced today by U. S. District Court Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle to 84 months imprisonment. In addition to term of imprisonment, Judge Lemelle imposed five years of supervised release following the term of imprisonment, during which...

NEW ORLEANS - Tonta J. Octave, 34, and his brother Kavis Octave31,both residents of Vacherie, Louisiana, were found guilty in four counts of a five count third second superseding indictment for conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine (“crack”) by a federal jury after a two-day trial. Among other things, the...

NOV (NEW ORLEANS) - James L. Earls, Jr., 30, a resident of Houma, Louisiana, was sentenced in federal court on November 7, 2012, by United States District Judge Helen G. Berrigan to five (60 months) imprisonment for his role in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine base or “crack”. In addition...