DENVER – Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Administrator Timothy J. Shea today announced that the DEA will direct resources to help reduce violent crime in communities throughout the country. Under this initiative, called Project Safeguard, DEA will identify and prioritize ongoing drug trafficking investigations with a nexus to violent crime. “Drug...

WASHINGTON – Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Administrator Timothy J. Shea today announced that the DEA will direct resources to help reduce violent crime in communities throughout the country. Under this initiative, called Project Safeguard, DEA will identify and prioritize ongoing drug trafficking investigations with a nexus to violent crime. “Drug...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Kristopher Wade Parker, 36, of Carlsbad, New Mexico, was sentenced on Oct. 14 in federal court to five-and-a-half years in prison for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and possession of a firearm in the furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Parker pleaded guilty on Oct. 25...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Toby Randall Walker, 36, appeared in federal court in Albuquerque on Oct. 1 on multiple drug and firearm charges brought under the Department of Justice’s Operation LeGend. According to a criminal complaint, on Sept. 29, agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration encountered Walker and located 1,490 grams...

CASPER, Wyo. - Chief Federal District Court Judge Scott W. Skavdahl sentenced Arnold Devonne Butler, 54, today in Casper. Butler was convicted on January 17, 2020 after a 4-day jury trial and found guilty on all counts, including possession with intent to distribute and conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine...

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Department of State today announced new rewards for information that assists in identifying and bringing to justice two Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) leaders who allegedly participated in corrupt and violent narco-terrorism conspiracy with high-ranking Venezuelan officials. Through the...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Coast Guard announced today a significant offload of drugs seized in international waters in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Agents with the DEA and the crew of the USCG Cutter...

NEW YORK – DEA Acting Administrator Timothy J. Shea and United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey S. Berman announced today that Adel El Zabayar was charged in Manhattan federal court with participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy, a cocaine importation conspiracy, and related weapons offenses involving...

WASHINGTON – A Mexican national will have his initial appearance in federal court in the District of Columbia later today on charges related to his alleged involvement in a criminal conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine. Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Acting...

NEW YORK – DEA Special Operations Division Special Agent in Charge Wendy Woolcock and United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey S. Berman announced today that Juan Carlos Bonilla Valladares, aka “El Tigre,” was charged in Manhattan federal court with conspiring to import cocaine into the...