MIAMI – Several Highlands County men have been sentenced in South Florida federal district court to prison terms for their roles in a powder and crack cocaine drug trafficking ring that had become entrenched in the Lake Placid neighborhood of Highway Park, Florida. A law enforcement operation handled by the...

PEORIA, Ill. – Special Agent in Charge Robert J. Bell, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Chicago Division, and Acting U.S. Attorney Douglas J. Quivey of the Central District of Illinois announced that Harold Shane Koch, 42, of Pekin, Illinois, was sentenced on Sept. 9, 2021, to 20 years in federal prison, to...

NEW YORK – Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s New York Division and New York Attorney General Letitia James announced today the arrests of 12 individuals for their roles in a drug trafficking operation that transported cocaine from Puerto Rico to Buffalo and other...

BROOKLYN, NY - Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Gilberto Melgarejo pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute illegal drugs over the “dark web.” Co-defendant Brooke Gray pleaded guilty to the same charge on August 10, 2021. Melgarejo and Gray participated in dozens of...

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Results of the first 60-days of the federal Violence Prevention and Elimination Response (VIPER) Initiative were announced today. VIPER sought to address the dramatic increase in gun violence in the City of Buffalo during the first half of 2021. The initial 60-day period of VIPER covered the...

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alfred A. Cooke III, Drug Enforcement Administration-Merrillville, Indiana, and Acting United States Attorney Tina L. Nommay of the Northern District of Indiana announced that Corey Harris, 26, of Danville, Illinois, was sentenced to 120 months in prison followed by five years...

MIAMI – Clarence G. Kelley, III, a/k/a “Kemp,” 42, of Lake Worth, Florida, was sentenced by a federal district judge in West Palm Beach to a mandatory term of five years in prison for possessing with the intent to distribute more than a kilogram of cocaine. In March 2021, law...

Charles County, Md., - On September 3, 2021 members of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Washington Division's Tactical Diversion Squad along with the Charles County Sheriff’s Office arrested Vincent Ippolito, 62, of Waldorf, and Denise Marie Shifflett, 45, of La Plata, in connection with illegally distributing drugs and narcotics. Ippolito...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Springfield, Missouri, woman was sentenced in federal court today for her role in a conspiracy to distribute large amounts of methamphetamine. Cassidy R. Clayton, 25, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 15 years in federal prison without parole. On Oct. 31, 2019...

HOUSTON – A 47-year-old man will forfeit three real properties and pay a $5 million money judgement for running a multi-million dollar synthetic narcotics distribution network, announced Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Daniel C. Comeaux and Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery. Daniel Bowles, Phoenix, Arizona, pleaded guilty...