El Paso – In an effort to save lives, DEA is proud to join “Song for Charlie” and other valued public health, non-profit, and law enforcement partners in recognizing the first ever National Fentanyl Awareness Day. This day is an effort to educate individuals around the dangerous threat that fentanyl...

EL PASO, Texas – Dr. Herbert Nassour, a former physician in El Paso, has agreed to pay $350,000 under a civil settlement to resolve allegations he violated certain provisions of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Dr. Nassour was a physician registered with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to prescribe and...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Mark Beale, 75, of Las Cruces, New Mexico, pleaded guilty on March 25 in federal court to unlawful dispensing and distributing of a schedule II controlled substance. Beale will remain on conditions of release pending sentencing. A federal grand jury indicted Beale on June 23, 2021. According...

TAMPA, Fla. – On March 16, 2022, Dr. Zachary Bird (51, Tampa) was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison, followed by 1 year of supervised release, for structuring cash transactions to evade bank reporting requirements. As part of his sentence, the Court also entered a money judgment in the...

EL PASO – The Drug Enforcement Administration’s El Paso Division has a new Special Agent in Charge (SAC). On Friday Feb. 18, 2022, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram named Greg Millard as the new SAC of the El Paso Division, which serves New Mexico and West Texas. Millard came to El...

ALBUQERQUE, N.M. – Fred J. Federici, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico, has announced that Ready Pharmacy has agreed to a $400,000 settlement relating to civil claims brought by the Department of Justice on behalf of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) El Paso Division Regulatory Diversion Group...

SAN DIEGO – San Diego’s Balboa Pharmacy has paid $105,000 to resolve allegations that it illegally dispensed opioids and other dangerous drugs to its patients, according to a settlement agreement signed by Balboa Pharmacy and the United States. The settlement stems from the United States’ continued efforts to combat the...

TAMPA, Fla. – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced the return of an indictment charging Dr. Qing McGaha (55, Tampa) with conspiracy to commit unlawful distribution of controlled substances and unlawful distribution of controlled substances for no legitimate medical purpose and outside the usual course of professional practice, as...

FORT MYERS, Fla. – U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell today sentenced Gerald Michael Abraham, 76, of Naples, Florida. to three years in federal prison for dispensing controlled substances (oxycodone and amphetamine) for no legitimate medical purpose. The court also ordered Abraham to forfeit the following items to the United...

MIAMI – A Florida man pleaded guilty yesterday to unlawfully distributing opioids at his pain management clinic in Miami, Florida. According to court documents, Habib Geagea Palacios, 40, of Miami, owned a cash-only pain management clinic in Miami, Florida named General Care Center, Inc. At General Care Center, Palacios paid...