WASHINGTON – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration today announced the release of the 2025 National Drug Threat Assessment (NDTA), DEA’s comprehensive review of the threats posed to the United States by deadly illicit drugs and the violent domestic and international drug trafficking organizations responsible for producing and trafficking the drugs...

HARTFORD, Conn. - Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that TARA SEVERINO, 58, of West Haven, has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny in Hartford to two years of probation, the first six months of which Severino must serve...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – An Osage Beach, Mo., nurse pleaded guilty in federal court today to illegally obtaining fentanyl from a hospital for his own use. Charles Welch Jr., 65, waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Roseann A. Ketchmark to a federal...

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Stephen Belleau, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England, today announced that a federal grand jury in New Haven has returned an indictment charging KYLE PETERSEN, 38, of Newington, and ERIK PETERSEN...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – An anesthesiologist at a Lee’s Summit, Mo., hospital pleaded guilty in federal court today to illegally taking prescription fentanyl from the hospital. Roman Peplinski, 37, of Kansas City, Mo., waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Greg Kays to...

ST. LOUIS – Two doctors from the St. Louis area were indicted Wednesday and accused of illegally administering ketamine to patients and fraudulently billing Medicare for certain services related to a psychiatric clinic. Dr. Asim Muhammad Ali, 53, and Dr. Mohd Azfar Malik, 70, were each indicted on 22 felony...

BOSTON – A Methuen man has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston for allegedly trafficking counterfeit prescription pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine, unlawfully possessing firearms and ammunition and using a firearm in relation of a drug trafficking offense. Shawn Hart, 45, was charged with one count of...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. on Tuesday sentenced a registered nurse who stole fentanyl from the hospital where she worked to three years of probation, 200 hours of public service work and a $5,000 fine. Judge Limbaugh also ordered Lindsey M. Francis, 35, to...

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA—Former Advanced Nurse Practitioner Jessica Joyce Spayd (52) was sentenced in U.S. District Court yesterday to 30 years (360 months) imprisonment for illegally prescribing and dispensing opioids outside the scope of legitimate medical practice that resulted in the deaths of five people between 2014 and 2019. United States District...

ROCHESTER, N.Y.-U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Richard A. Philbrick, 37, of Jamestown, NY, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, 400 grams or more fentanyl. The charges carry a mandatory minimum penalty of 10...