BOISE -- - Francisco Cardona-Rodriguez, 38, a Mexican national formerly residing in Rio Grande City, Texas, was the fourth defendant to plead guilty to conspiracy to manufacture/distribute 1,000 or more marijuana plants. Three co-defendants, also Mexican nationals, entered guilty pleas in United States District Court in September. Heber Franco-Lombera, 25...

BOISE -- - Sergio Said Gonzalez-Borquez, 21, a Mexican national formerly residing in Caldwell, Idaho, was sentenced on October 3, 2011 to five years in prison followed by four years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. Gonzalez-Borquez pled guilty on March 14, 2011 to count one...

SEATTLE, WASH-- - The leader of a Colombian cocaine trafficking organization was sentenced to 34 years in prison today in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Nivaldo Riascos Renteria, 41, is one of three men who were extradited from Colombia following an undercover investigation into a multi-ton cocaine trafficking conspiracy. In...

YAKIMA, WASH. -- - On September 21, 2011, the U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA) presented the very first Tribal Narcotics Officer of the year award to Yakama Nation Captain James Shike III. This award is sponsored by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and was presented to Captain Shike III at the...

TACOMA, WASH. - Bill Celeya Flores, 60, of Puyallup, Washington, was sentenced September 16, 2011, in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 57 months in prison and three years of supervised release for illegally possessing and distributing oxycodone and possession of a firearm by an unlawful use of a controlled...

ANCHORAGE, AK- - Jeremy Locklear, 28, a resident of Wasilla, Alaska, was sentenced on September 1, 2011, to 64 months in prison for attempted possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. The evidence established that Locklear is the nephew of Ricky Alan Reese, who in February 2011, was convicted...

SEATTLE, WASH-- - A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment on August 18, 2011, charging 18 subjects involved in a Sinaloa, Mexico drug trafficking organization with multiple conspiracy and/or firearms charges. The organization was smuggling heroin and methamphetamine into Arizona, and then transporting it for distribution as far east...

TACOMA, WASH. - On August 3, 2011, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration with the assistance of the Clark-Skamania Drug Task Force seized over 16 pounds of crystal methamphetamine and executed multiple search warrants in Vancouver, Wash. Ricardo Estrada, 43, of Vancouver, Wash., and Francisco Cervantes, 47, of Vancouver, Wash., were...

ARCHORAGE - Ryan Travis Brown, a resident of Palm Harbor, Florida, pled guilty in federal court on July 27, 2011, to conspiring to distribute 400 grams or more of a substance containing fentanyl. According to information presented to the court, Brown conspired with Anchorage co-defendants Brackston Moores, Amanda Moss, and...

SPOKANE, WASH - The Drug Enforcement (DEA), the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington, the Washington State Patrol, and the Spokane Regional Drug Task Force announced today a sweeping enforcement action against a large scale methamphetamine and cocaine drug trafficking organization in Eastern Washington. “The 25...