SANTA CLARA, Calif. — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced the arrest of and filing of charges against Dr. Arash Padidar, a Santa Clara County doctor accused of illegally prescribing opioids to patients. The arrest and charges are the result of an investigation into an alleged two-years-long illegal prescription...

PEORIA, Ill. – Todd C. Smith, Assistant Special Agent in Charge at U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Chicago Field Division, and U.S. Attorney Gregory K. Harris for the Central District of Illinois announced that Juan Esquivel Bernal, 54, of Atlanta, Illinois, was sentenced Aug. 7 to 21 years imprisonment for conspiracy to...

LAREDO, Texas – A 38-year-old resident of Laredo has entered a guilty plea to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, announced Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Daniel C. Comeaux of the Houston Division, and U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani. On May 26, authorities executed a search warrant...

WASHINGTON – The Drug Enforcement Administration will host public listening sessions to receive comments from healthcare practitioners, experts, advocates, patients, and other members of the public to inform DEA’s regulations on prescribing controlled substances via telemedicine. The listening sessions will be held in person and livestreamed with remote participation available...

ST. LOUIS – A woman who worked for a pet food company in Montgomery City, Missouri, admitted fraudulently obtaining pain pills meant for animals on Friday. Mackenzie Noel Deeker, 39, of Montgomery County, Missouri, pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk to a felony count of...

CHICAGO — Sheila G. Lyons, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Chicago Field Division, and Acting U.S. Attorney Morris Pasqual for the Northern District of Illinois announced that a physician assistant who formerly worked at a Chicago medical practice has been charged in federal court with fraudulently...

SAVANNAH, GA: The leader of a drug trafficking conspiracy that distributed kilos of cocaine and large amounts of other illegal drugs throughout the coastal Georgia area has been sentenced to more than 25 years in federal prison, concluding prosecution of Operation Deadlier Catch. Joseph Bulloch, a/k/a “Lil Joe,” 34, of...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – U.S. Attorney Dena J. King announced today that a federal jury has convicted Jonathan Craig Otuel, 36, of Stallings, N.C., of conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Otuel previously pleaded guilty...

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...

MADISON, Wis. – John G. McGarry, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Milwaukee, and U.S. Attorney Timothy M. O’Shea for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Leroy D. Hampton, 32, Champaign, Illinois, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to six years for possessing...