MIDLAND, Texas – A Mexican national unlawfully residing in Texas was sentenced Thursday to life in federal prison for his criminal actions as the leader of a drug trafficking organization tied to a Mexican cartel. According to court documents, Jose Ramon Castillo-Lopez aka “Pepo,” 30, of Namiquipa, Chihuahua, Mexico, supplied...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Johnnell Smith, 42, of Springfield, Illinois, was sentenced on Feb. 7, 2025, to 120 months in prison for possessing heroin with the intent to distribute it and for possessing a firearm during and in furtherance of a drug crime. At the sentencing hearing in front of Senior...

BOSTON – A citizen of the Dominican Republic, who was residing at the Quality Inn Hotel in Revere, Mass., has been charged in federal court in Boston for allegedly possessing five kilograms of suspected fentanyl and an assault rifle. Leonardo Andujar Sanchez, 28, was charged by criminal complaint with one...

HARTFORD, Conn. - Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that STANDFORD SMITH, also known as “Pops,” 35, of Hartford, has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson in Hartford to 69 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for...

BOSTON – A member of the violent Boston-based gang, H-Block, has pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to drug conspiracy charges. Avery Lewis, a/k/a “Wave,” 32, of Dorchester pleaded guilty on Jan. 21, 2025 to two counts of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and one count...

HARTFORD, Conn. - Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that DEJAVAHN WATKIN, 25, of Hartford, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in New Haven to a narcotics trafficking charge. According to court documents and statements made in court, on October 1...

SEATTLE – Five Seattle-area men are in custody following a grand jury indictment for their drug trafficking activity in Seattle’s homeless encampments and International District, announced U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. The men are charged federally and have made their initial appearances over the last few days. “We are all...

SAN DIEGO – Keith Octavio Rodriguez Padilla, a prolific firearms trafficker, was sentenced in federal court today to 19.5 years in custody for his role in supplying weapons and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition to the Sinaloa Cartel. This case is part of a long-running investigation targeting the...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Raytown, Mo., man was indicted by a federal grand jury today after federal agents found large quantities of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and heroin in his residence along with several firearms. Jauan D. Pratt, 30, was charged in a three-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Springfield, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court today to illegally possessing more than a kilogram of fentanyl and 14 firearms. Proevine Lennox Robins, 51, pleaded guilty to one count possessing fentanyl with the intent to distribute and one count of possessing firearms in furtherance of...