United States Drug Enforcement Administration

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice announced today criminal charges against 138 defendants, including 42 doctors, nurses, and other licensed medical professionals, in 31 federal districts across the United States, for their alleged participation in various healthcare fraud schemes that resulted in approximately $1.4 billion in alleged losses. The charges...

SYRACUSE, NY – Charles Scott, 61, of Syracuse pled guilty yesterday to distributing cocaine and heroin, possessing with intent to distribute fentanyl, and possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, announced Acting United States Attorney Antoinette T. Bacon, and Ray Donovan, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement...

NEW YORK CITY – Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Dermot Shea, the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department , and Ray Donovan, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration, announced that Jose Luis...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Miguel Baez Guevara, 38, a United States citizen living in Mexico, was indicted by a federal grand jury on 17 counts related to his leadership role in trafficking narcotics directly from Mexico to Alaska. Guevara was arrested by Mexican immigration authorities from the Instituto Nacional de Migración...

BROOKLYN, NY - Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Alvaro Vivero Rendon was sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment by United States District Judge Edward R. Korman for conspiracy to internationally distribute cocaine. As part of the sentence, the Court entered a forfeiture money judgment of $20 million. Vivero pleaded...

TAMPA, Fla. – Six individuals who are part of the Fernando Pineda-Jimenez Transnational Criminal Organization have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a conspiracy to distribute cocaine using vessels subject to the jurisdiction of the United States (U.S.). Fernando Pineda-Jimenez, a/k/a “Padrino,” 40, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy...

SEATTLE – Dr. Gerald Lee, a Seattle physician, has agreed to pay $150,000 to resolve allegations that he violated the Controlled Substances Act and False Claims Act. Specifically, the United States alleges that from January 2016 to September 2017, Dr. Lee violated the Controlled Substances Act by writing 23 prescriptions...

LUBBOCK, TX - Forty defendants – including 15 arrested in Wednesday’s “Operation Taste the Rainbow” in Lubbock – have been charged with gun and drug crimes, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah. The men and women, all allegedly tied to methamphetamine trafficking in and around Lubbock, have been charged in...

INDIANAPOLIS - Assistant Special Agent in Charge Michael Gannon, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Indianapolis, and Acting U.S. Attorney John E. Childress of the Southern District of Indiana announced that a drug trafficking ring consisting of at least 24 people have been sentenced in federal court. The organization operated in and around...

WICHITA, Kan. – A federal grand jury in Wichita returned an indictment for two men on charges related to an alleged fraudulent prescription writing scheme. David Sulzman, 59, and Martin Sulzman, 40, both of Wichita, are charged with conspiracy to dispense a controlled substance. According to court documents, between 2014...