SAN DIEGO –Escondido pain clinic doctor Bradley Chesler, M.D., has paid the United States $153,000 to resolve allegations that he overprescribed opioids. Dr. Chesler is a board-certified physiatrist who operates a pain clinic in Escondido, California. This settlement stems from the United States’ investigation into whether Dr. Chesler illegally prescribed...

SAN DIEGO – Three Mexican nationals suspected of trafficking huge quantities of illicit drugs for the Sinaloa Cartel were charged in federal court today in connection with what is believed to be the largest single seizure of cash, narcotics and ammunition in this district. Jesus Burgos Arias, Juan Alatorre Venegas...

SAN DIEGO – Documented Lakeside gang member Uriah Odish was sentenced in federal court today to 174 months in prison and five years of supervised release for supplying the fentanyl that led to the fatal overdose of 26-year-old Tiffany Hansen of La Mesa on January 23, 2018. According to his...

SAN DIEGO – Javier Felix Bayardo, a resident of Sinaloa, Mexico who was living in the San Diego area, was sentenced in federal court today to 17 years in custody for his role as the organizer of drug and money- laundering conspiracies and for possessing firearms in furtherance of a...

SAN DIEGO – Christopher Glenn Emison of El Cajon was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Battaglia to 168 months in prison for distributing more than 40 grams of fentanyl - including the fentanyl that caused the death of 45-year old Derrick Hotchkiss. On April 11, 2019, Hotchkiss...

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...

SAN DIEGO – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Otay Mesa commercial facility Friday seized more than 3,100 pounds of methamphetamine, fentanyl powder, fentanyl pills and heroin as part of the second largest methamphetamine bust along the southwest border in the history of the CBP, based on...

DENVER, Colo. – Special Agent in Charge Deanne Reuter in conjunction with U.S. Attorney Jason R. Dunn announced today that Fudong Wu, 40, of Aurora, and a Chinese national and legal permanent resident of the United States, was sentenced to serve 15 months in federal prison, followed by two years...

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – On the morning of August, 25, 2020, more than 70 law enforcement officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration Grand Junction Resident Office and law enforcement partners from 12 federal, state and local agencies conducted a marijuana eradication operation in the area north of Rifle, Colo. The...

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...