LAREDO, Texas – Two Texas residents have been sentenced for conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute fentanyl, announced Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Houston Division William Kimbell and U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei. Hernan Cortez, 40, Houston, and Daniel Elizondo, 37, Laredo...

FLORENCE, S.C. — Demetrius Stepp, 45, of Atlanta, Georgia, has been sentenced to more than five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to three counts of distributing fentanyl and crack cocaine. Evidence presented to the court showed that on three occasions in April and May 2022, a confidential informant...

BOSTON – A Saugus man has been sentenced in federal court in Boston for a drug conspiracy involving tens of thousands of counterfeit pills containing methamphetamine, pills containing fentanyl and a firearm offense. Aaron Lenardis, 38, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin to 15 years in...

BOSTON – A Dominican national, living in Haverhill and Methuen, Mass., has been arrested and charged for allegedly conspiring to distribute approximately 600 counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl. Jose Radhame Sanchez, 41, was charged with conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. According to the...

BOSTON – A Dominican national residing in Lawrence has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston for allegedly distributing 1,000 fentanyl pills while on federal supervised release for a prior drug trafficking conviction involving heroin and cocaine. Wagner Ismael Mejia Sanchez, a/k/a “Jose F. Rosario,” a/k/a “Jose Majimbe,”...

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. - Marc H. Silverman, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that ERIK PETERSEN, 44, of New Britain, has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to 43 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for trafficking...

Tacoma – A major redistributor for a South Sound-based drug trafficking ring that was connected to Aryan prison gangs was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 126 months in prison, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. 46-year-old Joseph Hempel, of Burien, Washington, was a high-volume drug...

BOSTON – A Lowell man has been sentenced for his role in a North Shore-based drug trafficking organization (DTO) that distributed tens of thousands of counterfeit prescription pills containing deadly narcotics. Anthony Bryson, 35, was sentenced on May 5, 2025 by U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV...

PORTLAND, Ore.—A Salem, Oregon man was sentenced to federal prison for possessing and trafficking more than 40 pounds of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and heroin. Rico Anthony Russell Rigutto, 46, was sentenced to 108 months in federal prison and five years’ supervised release. According to court documents, on December 14, 2021, as...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Jorge Pimentel, a/k/a “Big Head,” 36, of Cranston, has been sentenced to twenty years in federal prison, announced Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom. Pimental previously admitted to a federal judge that he ran a highly productive drug lab and a stash house in Pawtucket from...