TAMPA, Fla. – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced that Hector Enrique Veliz Villeda (30, Hialeah) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine. Veliz Villeda faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years, and up to life, in federal prison. A sentencing date has...

TAMPA, Fla. – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that Ubertino Zavala-Perez (58, Plant City) today pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Zavala-Perez faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled. According to the plea agreement, Zavala-Perez conspired with...

TAMPA, Fla. – Marvin “MJ” Mitchell (36, St. Peterburg) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute heroin, crack cocaine, and fentanyl, and possession with the intent to distribute heroin, crack cocaine, and fentanyl. Mitchell faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison on each...

MIAMI – On Wednesday, April 27, 2022, a federal district judge in West Palm Beach sentenced a 31-year-old man from Okeechobee County, Florida, to 130 months in prison for drug trafficking. Juan Manuel Nieves previously pled guilty to distribution of five grams or more of methamphetamine. According to the court...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Shawn Andrew Wilson (47, Fernandina Beach) pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine. Wilson faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 5 years, and up to, 40 years in federal prison. According...

TAMPA, Fla. – David Burkes (52, Safety Harbor) was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment for distributing narcotics, resulting in death to one individual and seriously bodily injury to another. Burkes had pleaded guilty on April 21, 2021. According to the plea agreement, beginning on Aug. 12, 2019, Burkes distributed fentanyl...

ORLANDO, Fla. – Kenneth Bernard Smith, 54, of Winter Garden, Fla., pleaded guilty today to two counts of possessing ammunition and a firearm as a convicted felon and two counts of distributing cocaine and heroin. He faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years, and up to life, in federal...