SEATTLE - Cardinal Health has agreed to pay $34 million in civil penalties to resolve allegations that the Lakeland, Florida-based distributor failed to report to the Drug Enforcement (DEA) suspicious orders of Class II controlled substances by pharmacies located in central Florida and Maryland. The settlement also resolves a civil...

ALBUQUERQUE - Juan Velazquez, 26, of Las Cruces, N.M., pleaded guilty today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to distributing cocaine and participating in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine in Doña Ana County, N.M. Velazquez was arrested in Sept. 2016, on an indictment alleging cocaine trafficking charges. The 18-count...

ALBUQUERQUE - Amber Kay Otero, 31, of Carlsbad, N.M., pleaded guilty today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to the misdemeanor offense of unlawfully possessing a controlled substance. Otero was arrested on Sept. 23, 2016, following an investigation initiated after the DEA received a report of theft or loss...

TACOMA, Wash. - An investigation begun by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the West Sound Narcotics Enforcement Team in February 2014 resulted today in the arrest of 19 people with ties to a methamphetamine distribution ring. Law enforcement served 24 search warrants on locations in Washington and Arizona in connection...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Today, Maurice Abad Malabed, aka “Moe,” 47, and David Patrick Christensen, 29, both of Anchorage were indicted by a federal grand jury in Anchorage for trafficking in methamphetamine bound for Utqiaġvik, (formerly Barrow, Alaska). The indictment charges Malabed and Christensen with conspiracy, attempted distribution, and possession with...

ALBUQUERQUE - David Nunez of Santa Fe, N.M., pleaded guilty today in federal court in Albuquerque, N.M., to the misdemeanor offense of dispensing a controlled substance, testosterone, without a prescription. Nunez was a licensed pharmacist and the owner of a pharmacy in Santa Fe at the time he committed the...

ALBUQUERQUE - Ivan Romero, 40, the leader of a heroin trafficking organization based in Taos County, N.M. pleaded guilty earlier this week to federal heroin and money laundering charges filed as the result of a 15-month DEA-led multi-agency investigation. His brother, Ricco Romero, 29, and his wife, Melissa Romero, 37...

DETROIT, MI - U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced today that a Livonia, Michigan doctor, Fanny Dela Cruz, was sentenced to 96 months in federal prison for participating in a conspiracy to illegally distribute prescription pills, and to defraud Medicare. McQuade was joined in the announcement by Timothy J. Plancon...

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Travis B. Preston, 28, and Tiffany L. Griffith, 25, both residents of Stanford, Kentucky, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to distribute large quantities of fentanyl. Preston admitted to conspiring to distribute 40 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of fentanyl. Griffith...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - United States Attorney John E. Kuhn Jr., in conjunction with Timothy J. Plancon, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’(DEA) Detroit Field Division, and Toni Ganzel, M.D., M.B.A., Dean of the University of Louisville School of Medicine, announced the successful completion of their first...