ALBUQUERQUE – Gregory M. Millard, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA’s El Paso Division, and Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, announced today that a federal jury on March 30 returned a guilty verdict against Eloy Romero. The jury convicted Romero, 47, of...

SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio woman pleaded guilty in San Antonio federal court Thursday to distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death. According to court documents, Claudia Cardenas, 47, provided a man with a sample of fentanyl on May 8, 2022, allowing him to try the substance before...

DENVER — The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announced that People’s Pharmacy, Inc. and its owner and pharmacist-in-charge, Mahnaz Abharian, have agreed to resolve allegations that the pharmacy unlawfully dispensed controlled substances, including dangerous opioids and drug combinations. People’s Pharmacy operated a pharmacy located in Lakewood...

TACOMA, Wash. – Twenty-seven people were indicted by a grand jury for drug trafficking, and many of those in the indictment are tied to the “Aryan Family,” a white supremacist prison gang, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Twenty-four of the defendants have been arrested over the last five days in...

INDIANAPOLIS - A joint investigation by Drug Enforcement Administration-Indianapolis and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) has led to the arrest of Zennon Gaines, a pharmacy technician from Indianapolis, who has been charged with multiple violations, including felony dealing and possession of a controlled substance by fraud/forgery. The joint investigation...

SEATTLE – Two members of a drug trafficking ring that buried drugs and cash on a rural property near Arlington, Washington, were sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Jose Arrondondo-Valdez, 27, was sentenced to nine years in prison and Yvette Olguin, 40, was...

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Juan Alfonso Torres-Rodriguez, 27, of Mexico, was charged by criminal complaint on March 9, 2023, with one count of Possessing Suspected Fentanyl Pills for Distribution. The complaint alleges that, on the evening of March 8, 2023, law enforcement officers observed Torres-Rodriguez participating in a suspected drug transaction...

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Dr. George Barrio, a pain management physician who formerly practiced medicine at the NeuroMedical Institute in Panama City, agreed to pay $225,000 to resolve allegations that he unlawfully prescribed opioids and other controlled substances to patients. The settlement was announced by Jason R. Coody, United States Attorney...

Bozeman, Mont. – Rocky Mountain Division Diversion Investigator (DI) Aaron St. Peter was recently named “Outstanding Citizen of the Year” at the Montana Narcotic’s Officers Association (MNOA) Conference in Bozeman. DI St. Peter was nominated by a colleague from the Montana Department of Justice, Criminal Investigation Division (MT CID). The...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Columbia, Mo., man was indicted by a federal grand jury today after he was arrested in St. Joseph, Mo., with methamphetamine and a firearm, then again in Kansas City, Mo., with approximately 2,300 fentanyl pills. Walter Antwine Moore, 42, was charged in a four-count indictment...