Spokane, Washington – A federal jury returned a guilty verdict in the trial of Luis Esquivel-Bolanos (a/k/a “Colorado”), age 45, of Guerrero, Mexico. Esquivel-Bolanos was found guilty on multiple drug trafficking and firearms charges. United States District Judge Thomas O. Rice presided over Esquivel-Bolanos’s trial, which began April 14, 2025...

BOISE – Michael Paul Lacasse, 48, and Venetia Dawn Trischan, 47, of Caldwell, were sentenced to 133 months and 96 months, respectively, in federal prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine. According to court records, in December 2023, law enforcement learned that Lacasse and Trischan were involved in...

POCATELLO – Geoffrey W. Ancheta, 40, of Pocatello, was sentenced to 9 years in federal prison for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. According to court records, members of the BADGES Task Force stopped Ancheta and his co-defendant, Alme Otto, as they returned from a trip to Arizona on April...

BOISE – Evan Nickolai Ernstson, 48, of Boise, was sentenced to 262 months in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, Acting U.S. Attorney Justin Whatcott announced today. Senior U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill also sentenced Ernstson to serve five years of supervised release upon completion of his...

BOISE – A large-scale Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation and prosecution resulted in the conviction of 11 Idaho defendants on federal drug trafficking charges, Acting U.S. Attorney Justin Whatcott announced today. The investigation involved the cooperative efforts of 10 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies...

ASHLAND, Ky. – A Columbus, Ohio, man, Angelo Dre Clifton, 31, was sentenced on Monday, by Chief U.S. District Judge David Bunning, to 25 years in prison, for the distribution of fentanyl resulting in an overdose death. According to Clifton’s plea agreement, on June 9, 2019, law enforcement responded to...

LONDON, Ky. – A Lebanese and Italian national, Alessandro Sabbagh, 27, was sentenced on Friday, April 11, 2025 by U.S. District Judge Robert Wier to 78 months in prison, for conspiracy to sell counterfeit drugs and knowingly causing the sale of a counterfeit drug. According to his plea agreement, between...

SEATTLE – A 37-year-old man who was living in a Des Moines, Washington, hotel, is charged federally with four counts of possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute, one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, and one count of money laundering announced...

Louisville, KY – This week, following a three-day trial, a federal jury convicted a Louisville, Kentucky man of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky, Special Agent in Charge Jim Scott of the DEA Louisville Field Division, and Chief Paul...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A Fairbanks man pleaded guilty to distributing fentanyl to a local man resulting in his death. According to court documents, beginning in May 2022 and continuing to July 2022, Edward Ginnis, 39, agreed with co-conspirators to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute controlled substances in...