TOPEKA, Kans. – The Drug Enforcement Administration St. Louis Division announced today an intelligence data-driven operation with local law enforcement partners in northeast Kansas to address the alarming increase in overdose events caused by counterfeit pills with fentanyl. Statistics collected about overdoses and overdose deaths in the region indicated shortcomings...

WASHINGTON – Today, the Drug Enforcement Administration sent a letter to federal, state, and local law enforcement partners warning of a nationwide spike in fentanyl-related mass-overdose events. Administrator Anne Milgram outlined the current threat and offered DEA support to law enforcement officers responding to these tragic incidents. “Fentanyl is killing...

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Xavier Robledo was sentenced in federal court today to 96 months in prison for distributing fentanyl that caused overdoses in two people and killed one, announced Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Wade R. Shannon and United States Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds. The sentence...

POCATELLO – A Murtaugh man and a Pocatello man pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. Between January 1 and March 24, 2021, Antonio Verduzco-Arreola, 40, of Murtaugh, and Joseph Alexander Huber, 35, of Pocatello, entered into an agreement to distribute controlled substances in the Pocatello area. On...

ABINGDON, Va. – A Smyth County man, who ordered approximately 30,000 fentanyl pills from California and sold them in Southwest Virginia, pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court. Zachary Ryan Hutton, 21, of Marion, Virginia, pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of knowingly possessing with the intent to distribute and...

SPOKANE, Wash.–The United States Drug Enforcement Administration is launching Operation Engage in Spokane, Washington. Operation Engage Spokane is a comprehensive community-level approach to address the drug epidemic through prevention strategies, facilitating conversations and collaboration with local partners. The Seattle Field Division’s proposal was one of 11 approved for continued funding...

SAN DIEGO –Jonathan Mefford was sentenced in federal court today to 190 months in prison for selling fentanyl-laced pills that caused the death of a 20-year-old Chula Vista man, identified in court records as J.P., in October of 2018, and for distributing multi-pound level quantities of methamphetamine in Kansas. Mefford...

Baltimore, Maryland- Kinnard Riggs, age 47, of Baltimore, Maryland, pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a mixture containing a detectable amount of fentanyl. In an unrelated case, James Meekins, age 36, of Baltimore, Maryland pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with...

LAS VEGAS – On Tuesday, March 22, 2022, members of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Las Vegas District Office, DEA Fresno Resident Office and the Tulare County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program concluded a multiple month-long investigation of a major narcotic trafficking organization with the arrest of four...

Baltimore, Md., – U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander sentenced Larry Gardner, a/k/a “Little Larry,” age 40, of Baltimore, Maryland, today to five years in federal prison, followed by four years of supervised release, for his participation in a conspiracy to distribute heroin and other drugs in the Baltimore area...