LOS ANGELES - A federal drug task force today arrested 18 people linked to three drug trafficking organizations that smuggled narcotics from Mexico in PVC pipes typically hidden in the axles of commercial trucks that ended up at truck yards located in South Los Angeles and southern Los Angeles County...

PHOENIX - - On August 12, 2013, Artemio Pena-Torrecillas, 26, of Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Susan R. Boltonto 40 years in prison. Pena-Torrecillas was found guilty by a federal jury on May 30, 2013, of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or...

LOS ANGELES - A West Hollywood doctor pleaded guilty this afternoon to a federal drug trafficking charge for writing hundreds of prescriptions for various controlled substances after a federal order revoked his authority to prescribe drugs. James William Eisenberg, 72, who resides in the Venice district of Los Angeles, pleaded...

LOS ANGELES - A coalition of federal, state and local authorities this morning arrested eight defendants named in a federal grand jury indictment that outlines an alliance between the Mexican Mafia prison gang and the La Familia Michoacána drug cartel that sought to protect and expand the cartel’s drug trafficking...

TUCSON, Ariz. - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Doug Coleman today announced the arrest of Gustavo Nunez and Ilda Garcia on felony charges including Possession of Dangerous (ARS 13-3407 A.1) and Practicing Medicine without a (ARS 13-3455). The charges arise from a three-month investigation conducted by the DEA’s...

PHOENIX - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Doug Coleman announced today that the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets (OFAC) reported the designation of three individuals and three entities linked to Ismael Zambada Garcia, one of the principal leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel. Those designated...

SANTA ANA, Calif. - A San Clemente man who owned and operated a string of nine illegal marijuana stores that generated at least $25 million in profits was sentenced today to 262 months in federal prison. John Melvin Walker, also known as “Pops,” 56, of San Clemente, was sentenced by...

PHOENIX - On July 19, 2013, Michael Rocky Lane, 51, of Cave Creek, Arizona, was found guilty of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute controlled substance analogues and possession with the intent to distribute controlled substance analogues by a federal jury in Phoenix. The case was tried before U.S. District Judge...

PHOENIX - On July 8, 2013, Indalecio Castro-Ponce, 40, of San Luis, Ariz. was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Susan R. Boltonto 240 months imprisonment and a $3,000 fine. Castro-Ponce was found guilty by a federal jury on April 12, 2013, of one count of conspiracy to possess with intent...

TUCSON, Ariz. - On July 1, 2013, Patagonia, Arizona residents Fabian Monge, 34, Isabel Monge-Sierras, 43, Mary (Monge) Carlson, 32, and Frank Lopez, 49 were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Raner C. Collinsto serve terms of imprisonment of 12.5 years, 7 years, 5 years, and 7.5 years, respectively. After the...