FRESNO, Calif. — A federal grand jury returned a 3-count superseding indictment last week against three defendants, charging them with a drug trafficking conspiracy, Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Bob P. Beris announced. Alfredo Alvarez Sanchez, 37, and Raul Munoz Navarro, 54...

SAN FRANCISCO – Two drug dealers extradited from Honduras to San Francisco were sentenced to multiple years in federal prison for drug trafficking offenses in the Bay Area. Jorge Viera-Chirinos, 35, was sentenced to 40 months in prison on March 5, 2025. Elmer Matute, 32, was sentenced to 36 months...

BOISE, Idaho – A 44-year-old Honduran national suspected to be unlawfully in the United States and using the name “Hector Ojeda Manuel Aponte” was sentenced yesterday to 262 months in federal prison for distribution of methamphetamine, Acting U.S. Attorney Justin Whatcott announced. According to court records, Aponte was distributing approximately...

EL PASO – For the first time in its history, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) El Paso Division will be led by an El Pasoan. Omar Arellano, who graduated from Del Valle High and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), is the new Special Agent in Charge (SAC)...

Seattle – A 22-year-old Venezuelan National made his initial appearance this week in U.S. District Court in Seattle, following his arrest in Federal Way, Washington with a large amount of suspected narcotics, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. Sebastian Velasquez-Perez was taken into custody at St Francis Hospital after...

Jacksonville, Fla. – Acting United States Attorney Sara C. Sweeney announced Brian Gregory Brightman (31, Jacksonville) has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine. Brightman faces a minimum sentence of 10 years, up to life, in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet...

BEAUMONT, Texas – A Mexican national has been sentenced to over 11 years in federal prison for drug trafficking violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Daniel C. Comeaux of the Houston Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Abe McGlothin, Jr. Audivier...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —Isaias Aroldo Contreras, 26, of Sacramento, pleaded guilty today to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, Acting United States Attorney Michele Beckwith and Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Bob P. Beris announced. According to court documents, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Contreras’s Folsom residence...

ALBUQUERQUE – An Arizona man was sentenced to 14 years in prison for drug trafficking and firearms offenses following his arrest at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in New Mexico in 2023. There is no parole in the federal system. According to court documents, on April 27, 2023, David Maldonado...

POCATELLO, Idaho – Jesus M. Beltran-Zazusta, a/k/a Jesus Zazueta-Beltran, 26, a Mexican national unlawfully in the United States and living in Victor, was sentenced to nine years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, Acting U.S. Attorney Justin Whatcott announced today. According to court records, law enforcement officers identified...