DALLAS, TX- An Arlington physician has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for fraud and drug crimes, announced DEA Special Agent in Charge Eduardo A. Chávez. In July 2021, a federal jury convicted physician Clinton Battle, 69, of one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and one...

NORFOLK, Va. – A Kennewick, Washington, man was sentenced today to 145 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute cocaine, and distribution of cocaine. According to court documents, Juan Gabriel Rodriguez-Preciado, 44, facilitated the trafficking of kilogram quantities of cocaine between a Mexican cartel...

RICHMOND, Va. – A Guatemalan national was sentenced today to 172 months in prison for his role as a maritime transportation manager in a large-scale Guatemalan drug trafficking organization (DTO). According to court documents, beginning in 2016, Amilcar Chavez-Barrera, 42, conspired to distribute over 1,000 kilograms of cocaine for distribution...

Greenbelt, Md., – Edwin Kerry Smith, age 43, of Silver Spring, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and admitted that heroin he distributed to one victim resulted in the victim’s fatal overdose. The guilty plea was announced by Jarod Forget, Special Agent in...

DALLAS – A Colombian man was sentenced to nearly three decades in federal prison for drug trafficking violations. Manuel Camilo Renteria Lemus, 37, pleaded guilty on Nov. 16, 2020, to conspiracy to manufacture and distribution of cocaine, knowing it would be imported into the United States. Lemus was sentenced to...

DALLAS - Attorney General Javier Caraballo, of the Republic of Panama, joined DEA Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Field Division Eduardo A. Chavez; Acting U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei, for the Eastern District of Texas; Special Agent in Charge Ryan L. Spradlin of HSI, Dallas Field Office; FBI...

RICHMOND, Va., – A Guatemalan national was sentenced today to 17 and a half years in prison for his role as a transportation manager in a large-scale Guatemalan drug trafficking organization (DTO). According to court documents, between 2015 and 2016, Edi Barrera-Salguero, 46, conspired to distribute thousands of kilograms or...

Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Ana Christina Avalos a/k/a “Christina Cazares-Quintero”, age 35, of Phelan, California, to 57 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute controlled substances. The sentence was announced by...

DALLAS - A Costa Rican man was sentenced to federal prison for drug trafficking violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced today by the DEA Dallas Field Division. Felipe Espinoza-Cruz, 49, pleaded guilty on Feb. 3, 2021, to conspiracy to manufacture and distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine...

DALLAS – The DEA Dallas Field Division today announced the results of two Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) operations targeting international drug and firearm trafficking between Mexico and Texas. Operations Trap Mansion and Two Birds and One Stone were a sustained state-wide effort of numerous federal, state, and...