MIDLAND, Texas – A Midland man was sentenced in a federal court in Midland to 20 years in prison for his role in a fatal fentanyl trafficking conspiracy. According to court documents, William Jake Childers, 39, trafficked counterfeit M-30 Oxycodone pills containing fentanyl that led to the deaths of two...

SEATTLE, Wash. –The first of six defendants tied to a significant drug trafficking ring that used recreational vehicles to transport massive quantities of methamphetamine, fentanyl pills, cocaine and heroin was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 102 months in prison. Ernesto Casillas, 48, has been in custody...

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – MARK FRIDGE, III (“FRIDGE”), age 22, SHYHEIM PINES (“PINES”), age 29, and KAWAIISHH BROWN (“BROWN”), age 50, all of Tangipahoa Parish, were indicted on June 28, 2024 for violations of the Federal Controlled Substances Act, including distribution of fentanyl resulting in serious bodily injury, and violations...

SPOKANE, Wash. - Ray Anthony Wynecoop pleaded guilty on June 26, 2024, to one count of Possession with Intent to Distribute Fentanyl, one count of Possession with Intent to Distribute 40 Grams or More of Fentanyl, one count of Discharge of a Firearm During and in Relation to a Drug...

SALT LAKE CITY – The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Rocky Mountain Field Division (RMFD) seized approximately 170,000 fentanyl pills in Utah operations last month. In less than two weeks in June, 170,000 fentanyl pills were seized across the state. This represents 25.6% of the total fentanyl pill seizures in Utah in...

Spokane, Washington- Vanessa R. Waldref, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced today that three men are facing federal drug charges. Osvaldo Guadalupe Soto-Orduno, Jose Roman Lizarraga Gerardo, and Jose Efrain Gonzalez Rodriguez were charged by criminal complaint with Conspiracy to Distribute 400 Grams or More...

EUGENE, Oregon—A Bend, Oregon man was sentenced to federal prison for possessing 20 pounds of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. Isaac Kitashima, 48, was sentenced to 108 months in federal prison and five years’ supervised release. According to court documents, from August 2020 through June 2021, Kitashima and co-conspirators...

JOHNSTON, Iowa – The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Omaha Division hosted its third annual Family Summit at Camp Dodge in Johnston, Iowa, June 27, bringing together families from Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota representing 41 loved ones lost to a fentanyl poisoning. “This is a somber day,”...

EUGENE, Ore.—A Springfield, Oregon member of an international drug trafficking organization operating in Lane County, Oregon, was sentenced to federal prison. Rodolfo Arroyo-Segoviano, 38, was sentenced to 145 months in federal prison and three years’ supervised release. According to court documents, between April and August 2020, Arroyo-Segoviano managed the local...

Tacoma – A former attorney from Mexico was sentenced June 21, 2024, to 90 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, announced U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. Gustavo Castellanos-Tapia, 38, of Burien, Washington, was a significant supplier of methamphetamine to a drug trafficking organization with ties to the...