DES MOINES, Iowa – Agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration Des Moines Resident Office partnered with the Mid-Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force, United States Postal Inspection Service and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations to take down 21 high-ranking members of the Jesse Sanchez Drug Trafficking Organization based out of...

ALBANY, N.Y. – Jacob Ebel, 32, of Niverville, N.Y., was sentenced today to 18 years in prison after admitting that he distributed heroin and fentanyl to two people who died in Columbia County in July 2016. The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith, DEA New York...

BATON ROUGE, La. – The Drug Enforcement Administration yesterday announced that a member of a large drug trafficking organization was sentenced. Byron A. Lawson, age 40, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was sentenced as part of Operation Hidden Fee, an extensive federal, state, and local investigation by the Middle District Organized...

PORTLAND, Ore . – Darlene Michelle Sturdevant, 61, of Vancouver, Wash., was sentenced today to 14 years in federal prison and five years’ supervised release for conspiring to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and heroin throughout the Portland metropolitan area, possessing with intent to distribute heroin, and committing an...

TRENTON, N.J. – DEA New Jersey Division Special Agent in Charge Susan A. Gibson and U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Craig Carpenito announced a Pennsylvania man and two Mercer County, N.J., men today admitted their roles distributing heroin in and around Trenton. Duane Paulino-Escalera, 27, of Philadelphia...

SEATTLE -- A Skagit County resident who operated businesses in Burlington and Sedro Woolley, Washington was sentenced on Jan. 17, 2020, in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 18 months in prison for his role in knowingly laundering cash drug proceeds for a drug cartel. Orlando Barajas, 41, owns and...

ABINGDON, Va. – Two members of a drug distribution organization that trafficked methamphetamine, heroin, oxycodone, cocaine, and other drugs from Georgia into Southwest Virginia were recently sentenced in federal court on drug conspiracy charges. In a hearing this week, Roy Lee Dykes, 61, of Watkinsville, Ga., formerly of Big Stone...

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Steven Hecke, age 44, and Samuel Battell, age 34, both of Fort Wayne were charged in a criminal complaint filed late Jan. 15, 2020, with possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl along with possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime...

BALTIMORE – U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett today sentenced Paul Alexander, aka David Paul Hayes, aka “Shorty”, age 47, of Hanover, Maryland, to 35 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, on five federal charges including conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, two counts of possession with...

MILWAUKEE- DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge Paul E. Maxwell Jr., and Matthew D. Krueger, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, announced today that 26 defendants have been charged in federal court with trafficking at least five kilograms or more of cocaine as well as distributable quantities...