SPOKANE, Wash.– Dr. Jacqueline Thomas, N.D., an East Wenatchee-based naturopathic doctor, and Dr. Rebecka Hoppins, an Edmonds-based naturopathic doctor, have each agreed to pay $16,500 to resolve allegations under the Controlled Substances Act that they improperly prescribed controlled substances. The Controlled Substances Act regulates certain drugs deemed to pose a...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City, Missouri, man who was arrested with 19 firearms and quantities of illegal drugs in his home pleaded guilty in federal court today to trafficking methamphetamine and illegally possessing firearms. Rusty W. Snow, 28, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Greg Kays to one...

COEUR D’ALENE – Dr. Eric Benson, an internist practicing medicine in Post Falls, Idaho, agreed to pay $110,000 to resolve allegations that he unlawfully prescribed opioids and other controlled substances to patients between 2014-2021. The settlement, which was based in part on Dr. Benson’s ability to pay, also restricts the...

St. Louis, Mo. - Saint Francis Medical Center of Southeast Missouri has agreed to pay more than $1.6 million to settle a civil suit by the United States, resolving claims under the Controlled Substances Act. The U.S. government alleged that Saint Francis employed a Farmington, Missouri, physician, Brett Dickinson, who...

COEUR d'ALENE, Idaho - Today, law enforcement officials from Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), U.S Attorney’s Office, Idaho State Police, Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office, Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene Police Departments are warning the public about a sharp increase in fatal overdoses connected to the highly potent and often deadly drug...

DETROIT – Today the United States Drug Enforcement Administration launched a new comprehensive law enforcement and prevention initiative aimed at reducing drug use, abuse, and overdose deaths. “Operation Engage” allows participating field divisions to focus on the biggest drug threat and resulting violence in their respective geographic areas. The initiative...

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey sentenced Denis Mikhlin to 108 months in prison today. The judge also ordered Mikhlin to pay restitution. The 41-year-old St. Louis County, Missouri, resident pleaded guilty in August to four felony counts of conspiracy, obtaining oxycodone and other opioid drugs by...

ST. LOUIS – Tamara Jo Nyachira of Pittsburg, Kansas, was sentenced today to three years’ probation, a $5,000 fine and 100 hours of community service after pleading guilty to obtaining narcotic opioid prescription drugs with forged prescriptions before Chief United States District Judge Rodney W. Sippel. According to her plea...

SPOKANE, Wash., - On October 21 - 22, 2020, United States Attorney William Hyslop and DEA Special Agent in Charge Keith Weis announced a coordinated Opioid Fentanyl Outreach initiative by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, community leaders, prevention specialists and school superintendents in Spokane and the Tri-Cities areas...

PORTLAND, Ore.—David Carl Paulsen, 33, of Bend, Oregon, was sentenced on Dec.10, 2019, to 12 months and one day in federal prison and two years’ supervised release for illegally manufacturing and possessing marijuana during a March 2018 butane honey oil explosion in Bend. According to court documents, on March 18...