SAN DIEGO – A Tijuana-based drug trafficker who used teens as drug couriers was sentenced in federal court today to seven years in prison and a $50,000 fine for his leadership role in coordinating the movement of large quantities of cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine to San Diego from Mexico...

SAN DIEGO - A federal jury returned a guilty verdict today convicting Jahvaris Lamoun Springfield of selling Brendan James Gallagher fentanyl pills that resulted in Gallagher’s fatal overdose on February 5, 2019. Springfield is scheduled to be sentenced on December 14, 2021, by U.S. District Judge Larry Alan Burns. The...

FRESNO, Calif. — Jose Reyes-Pineda, 48, of Anaheim, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. According to court documents, Reyes and co-defendants Genaro Serrato-Calles, 51, and Antonio Valencia-Hernandez, 65, both of Modesto, and Antonio Castellanos, 38, of Whittier, were charged with conspiring...

FRESNO, Calif. — Patrick Maldonado, 45, of Madera, and Elias Zambrano Jr., 41, of Fresno, have been sentenced to eight years in prison and two years and three months in prison, respectively, for an interstate drug conspiracy involving shipments of marijuana to the Midwest, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert...

FRESNO, Calif. — Modesto residents Genaro Serrato Calles, 49, and Antonio Valencia Hernandez, 65, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and heroin, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Wade R. Shannon announced. According to court documents, Serrato and Valencia, along...

SAN DIEGO – Acting U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman announced federal drug charges today against Defendant Carlos Gerardo Symonds Saavedra following the seizure of more than 2,500 kilograms of methamphetamine and 50 kilograms of fentanyl found in a commercial trailer at the Otay Mesa, California Cargo Port of Entry (POE). The...

FRESNO, Calif. — A federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment today against Jose Jesus Torres Garcia, 30, of Fresno, charging him with possessing fentanyl with intent to distribute it and possessing a firearm in furtherance of that drug trafficking offense, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert and Drug Enforcement...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sergey Tkachuk, 28, of North Highlands, California was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller to five years in prison for distribution of fentanyl, Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Wade R. Shannon and Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. According to court...

SAN DIEGO – Olatunde James Temitope Akintonde of El Cajon, California pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday, admitting that he sold fentanyl-laced pills that caused the death of a nineteen-year-old Santee, California man, identified in court records as S.J.G., in March of 2019. According to his plea agreement, Akintonde admitted...

SAN DIEGO – An indictment was unsealed today in federal court charging 60 members of a San Diego-based international methamphetamine distribution network tied to the Sinaloa Cartel with drug trafficking, money laundering and firearms offenses. During the last month, hundreds of federal, state, and local law enforcement agents and officers...