DALLAS - A longtime drug dealer has been convicted of drug and gun crimes, announced DEA Special Agent in Charge Eduardo A. Chávez. Following a two-day trial, a federal jury convicted Jerome Thomas Watkins, 44, of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, fentanyl, methamphetamine, and heroin; possession with...

LOS ANGELES —The culmination of a three-month investigation resulted in a Santa Barbara methamphetamine distributor being sentenced on November 8, 2021 to 180 months in federal prison for narcotics violations. Cesar Castillo-Pena, 35, of San Bernardino, California, was sentenced by United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner. On July 28...

POCATELLO – A federal jury sitting in Pocatello convicted an Idaho Falls man of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, attempted possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, and deported alien found in the United States. According to court records and evidence presented at trial, on September 26, 2017, Jose Luis Cruz-Delgado...

PORTLAND, Ore.—In August and October 2021, coordinated law enforcement operations targeting two Portland-area transnational drug trafficking cells led to the arrests of the cells’ leaders and more than a dozen associates, and the seizure of approximately 200,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills suspected to contain fentanyl, two pounds of fentanyl powder, 40...

ABINGDON, Va. – A Greenville, South Carolina man, who formerly resided in Bristol, Virginia, pleaded guilty last week to distributing methamphetamine, international money laundering, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and conspiring to obstruct justice. According to court documents, Joshua Desorcy, 36, was directly responsible for...

NORFOLK, Va. – A Portsmouth man, who was the 25th defendant associated with Operation High Tide, was sentenced today for his role in trafficking firearms and selling heroin. According to court documents, in 2017, Shon E. Melton, 32, of Portsmouth, was attributed with trafficking 19 firearms, including a concealable short...

MIAMI - Today, at a press conference, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco and DEA Administrator Anne Milgram announced a significant law enforcement surge to protect American communities from the flood of fentanyl and fentanyl-laced pills across the United States. Illicit fentanyl, a synthetic opioid found in most of the...

SEATTLE - Today, the Drug Enforcement Administration issued a Public Safety Alert warning Americans of the alarming increase in the lethality and availability of fake prescription pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine. DEA’s Public Safety Alert, the first in six years, seeks to raise public awareness of a significant nationwide surge...

ABINGDON, Va. – A Bristol, Virginia man was sentenced last week to 21 and a half years in prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. According to court documents, Paul D. Crone, 56, conspired with others to traffic approximately 45...

Greenbelt, Md., – U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm sentenced Harjit Singh Dub, age 27, of Moreno Valley, California to seven years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for distribution of methamphetamine. The sentence was announced by Jarod Forget, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA...