EL PASO - Today in El Paso, federal authorities filed two criminal complaints charging five individuals for smuggling an estimated $5.4 million worth of marijuana and methamphetamine and 77 illegal aliens, announced U.S. Attorney Gregg N. Sofer, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge Erik P. Breitzke, Drug Enforcement...

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. – A member of a multi-state drug ring will be spending the rest of the decade behind bars. Lendarious Hayes, 24, of Meridian, Mississippi, has been sentenced to 135 months (11 years and 3 months) in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and money laundering...

WILMINGTON , N.C. – Ashley Shackelford, 35, of Duplin County, was sentenced yesterday to 90 months imprisonment for: (1) Conspiracy to Possess with the Intent to Distribute and Distribute 500 grams of a mixture and substance containing Methamphetamine; and (2) Possess with the Intent to Distribute of 500 grams of...

CHICAGO – Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Robert J. Bell, Chicago Field Division announced the expansion of Operation Crystal Shield. This expansion includes the designation of two additional methamphetamine “transportation hubs” in 2021. Through this effort, DEA is attacking the entire supply chain, locating and seizing meth...

CHICAGO – Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Robert J. Bell, Chicago Field Division announced the expansion of Operation Crystal Shield. This expansion includes the designation of two additional methamphetamine “transportation hubs” in 2021. Through this effort, DEA is attacking the entire supply chain, locating and seizing meth...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Springfield woman was sentenced in federal court today for leading a conspiracy that distributed more than 15 kilograms of methamphetamine in a three-county area. Christina E. Gauger, 39, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 17 years in federal prison without parole. Law...

MADISON, Wis. – Robert J. Bell, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration – Chicago Division and Scott C. Blader, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Jeffrey Costillo, 33, Blaine, Minnesota, and Denise Kraimer, 27, Columbia Heights, Minnesota, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge William...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Cuba, Missouri, man has been sentenced in federal court for methamphetamine trafficking following a high-speed police chase. Shannon L. Brim, 33, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark on Monday, Jan. 25, to 14 years in federal prison without parole. On Sept. 20, 2020...

NEW YORK CITY – The New York Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) seized an alarming amount of methamphetamine and fentanyl during 2020. In Fiscal Year 2020, there was a 214% increase in methamphetamine and 59% rise in fentanyl seized in New York, in comparison to 2019. These...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Armando Arizmendi-Garcia, 24, Bianey Gonzalez-Arizmendi, 28, and Oscar Daniel Martinez-Nunez, 21, have been charged with conspiring to distribute over 30 pounds of crystal methamphetamine. The three defendants are Mexican nationals. Two of the defendants made their initial appearances today in federal magistrate court in West...