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Thursday, jun 4
Tag:
DEA
News
‘Addiction Medicine Family Doctor’ Ran DMV Pill Mill, Loses Homes, Cash After Prison Sentence
A Virginia doctor who called himself an “Addiction Medicine Family Doctor” is paying the price after prosecutors say he ran an opioid pill mill that left multiple patients dead. David Allingham, 65, of Oakton, was sentenced to 13 years in prison in May and has now been ordered to forfeit more than $168,000, along with two properties, federal prosecutors in Alexandria announced. He must also pay $169,244 in restitution to three victims. According to court documents, Allingham owned Oakton Primary Care Center (OPCC) and advertised his “special training and skill in preventing, diagnosi…
News
Police Chief, Marine, Dad In Federal Prison For Meth Pleads Guilty In Mushrooms Tampering Case
A father, Marine veteran, and former police chief in Pennsylvania already serving federal prison time for meth trafficking has now pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence in a case tied to missing mushrooms, Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole W. Ziccarelli announced on Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. Former Greensburg Police Chief Shawn Denning pleaded guilty to three counts of tampering with evidence before Common Pleas Judge Michael Stewart, according to the DA’s office. Judge Stewart sentenced Denning to one year of probation. The case stems from a February 2023 audit of the Greensburg…
News
Virginia Man Worked With Georgia Inmate To Flood Region With Meth, Feds Say
A Virginia man who helped a Georgia prison inmate flood the state with meth is headed to federal prison. Christopher M. Sullivan, 31, of Bristol, was sentenced to 96 months in prison after a federal jury convicted him of conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, authorities announced on Thursday, July 17. Sullivan was found guilty in June following a three-day trial in US District Court in Abingdon. According to federal prosecutors, Sullivan worked directly with Christopher David Johnson, an inmate inside a Georgia state prison, who was running a large-scale meth trafficking operation from…
Police & Fire
Motorcycle Gang Assault At DMV Hookah Lounge Sparks Multi-State Police Takedown: Officials
A savage assault and shootout outside a Virginia hookah lounge triggered a massive multi-agency raid on the Wheels of Soul outlaw motorcycle gang, with nearly two dozen members now in custody, or on the run, across multiple states, authorities announced. The early morning April 13 brawl and shooting outside Babylon Café on Golansky Boulevard in Woodbridge left two men injured, one from a brutal beating and another with a gunshot wound, and both initially refused to cooperate with police. But the Prince William County Police Department didn’t let up. Following months of investigation, detec…
News
$1.5M Drug Bust: 57 Pounds Of Ketamine Found In Toys, Frames At Area Port
Customs officers in Philadelphia just reeled in a whopper — but it wasn’t fish. US Customs and Border Protection officers intercepted 57 pounds of ketamine hydrochloride, a dangerous anesthetic often abused at raves and by sexual predators, during multiple parcel inspections in late June, the agency announced on Thursday, July 3. The drugs, which had a street value of about $1.5 million, were being smuggled from Europe to South Florida, hidden inside fishing rods, toys, picture frames, and other everyday items. CBP officers weren't playing around after they found nine pounds of keta…
News
Maryland Doctor Who Ran 45-State Pill Mill In DC Learns Prison Fate
A Maryland physician will spend nearly two decades behind bars for handing out addictive opioids to patients he barely examined — in what federal officials say was a massive pill mill operation that spanned the entire country. Ndubuisi Joseph Okafor, 65, of Upper Marlboro, was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison after a jury found him guilty of illegally prescribing powerful drugs like oxycodone and promethazine with codeine to people using fake names — and collecting cash for each visit. The sentencing was announced by US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro and follows Okafor’s March 21 conv…
Police & Fire
Maryland Drug Ring Busted; Pair Jailed After SWAT Raids, Sheriff Says
Two alleged drug traffickers are behind bars in Carroll County after a major multi-agency bust that spanned six months and involved SWAT teams, the DEA, and local police from three counties, authorities announced. Antonio Alfonso Liason, 38, and Jessica Brooke Smith, 47, both of Westminster, were arrested this week, during a sweeping takedown involving search warrants across Carroll County and Baltimore, according to the sheriff's office. “These search warrants were a result of a joint investigation spanning approximately six months, targeting the distribution of large quantities of illicit…
Police & Fire
Drug Pipeline Busted: Fentanyl, Firearms, Cash Seized After Major Raid In DMV, Sheriff Says
A multi-agency operation shut down a major drug supply pipeline in Virginia after authorities raided a property packed with fentanyl, firearms, and cash, officials announced. Detectives arrested Kajuan Stinnie, 25, after a brief foot chase in Albemarle County on Thursday, May 15, the Culpeper County Sheriff's Office said. The arrest followed a monthlong investigation that began in Culpeper County and led detectives to the 200 block of Saponi Road in Albemarle, where they say the source of the local supply was located. According to the sheriff's office, during the search, investigators seiz…
Politics
‘DC Is Safer Today:’ ICE Nabs Nearly 200 Illegal Immigrants, Gang Members In Massive Sweep
ICE just swept nearly 200 illegal alien offenders off the streets of Washington, DC—including MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gang members—in a massive four-day immigration operation. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), working alongside federal, state, and local partners, arrested 189 undocumented immigrants and served 187 notices of inspection to DC businesses during a targeted four-day immigration crackdown from Tuesday, May 6 to Friday, May 9, federal officials announced. “The District of Columbia is exponentially safer today because of countless hours of investigative work and dedic…
Politics
500+ 'Criminal Illegal Immigrants,' Gang Members Arrested By Virginia Task Force, Youngkin Says
A massive law enforcement crackdown in Virginia has taken more than 500 alleged criminal illegal immigrants off the streets — including over 130 suspected gang members, state officials announced. The Virginia Homeland Security Task Force (VHSTF) has racked up 521 arrests since Feb. 25, including individuals believed to be part of violent transnational organizations like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, according to Governor Glenn Youngkin. “Thanks to the brave men and women of our federal and state law enforcement, more than 500 criminal illegal immigrants, including more than 130 gang members, ar…
Police & Fire
Illegal Immigrant Released In DMV After Sex Abuse Conviction Re-Arrested: ICE
A Guatemalan national convicted of having sex with a child was released by a Virginia jail despite an ICE detainer — but now he's back in federal custody after a major multi-agency takedown, authorities said. Ander Cortez-Mendez, 21, was arrested on Wednesday, April 2 in Falls Church, by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers working with ATF, the DEA, and the Diplomatic Security Service, ICE officials announced. Cortez-Mendez, who is in the country illegally, had previously been convicted in Fairfax County Circuit Court of consensual sexual intercourse with a child. He was …
News
Dealer Who Sold Fentanyl-Laced ‘Perc’ To Maryland Teen Gets Prison Time In Overdose Death
A Maryland man will serve prison time for selling the pill that led to a teen’s death, authorities announced. Cesar Alexander Lopez, 26, of Hyattsville, was sentenced to five years in prison on Monday, April 7, in Montgomery County Circuit Court, where he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for the death of 17-year-old Aiden Vining, according to State’s Attorney John McCarthy. Lopez received a 10-year sentence with all but five years suspended. He will also be on supervised probation for five years after his release. Prosecutors say Vining was found unresponsive in his Montgomery Co…
News
Missing DMV Native, UPitt Student Sudiksha Konanki Vanishes During Beach Walk In DR
The search is on for a University of Pittsburgh student from Virginia who vanished while on vacation in the Dominican Republic. An "exhaustive" international search involving the US and Dominican Republic officials has been launched for Chantilly native Sudiksha Konanki, 20, who has not been heard from since last week. Konanki was reported missing on Thursday, March 6, while vacationing with five friends at a resort in Punta Cana, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office. Konanki, a citizen of India and permanent US resident, has not been seen since around 4:15 a.m. that …
Schools
First-Grade Teacher Accused Of Selling Fatal Fentanyl Dose; Selling On School Grounds: Feds
A teacher in Maryland who allegedly left her classroom to sell drugs to people on school property is facing charges for distributing a fatal dose of fentanyl, according to federal authorities. Sarah Katherine Magid, 34, has been charged with distributing fentanyl that resulted in serious bodily injury and the death of a victim, according to a criminal complaint that was unsealed this week in District Court. Magid, a first-grade teacher at a Montgomery County school was arrested in August following a search and seizure warrant by the DEA and local police at her Burtonsville home fo…
News
Flying High: Bag Filled With 34 Pounds Of Ketamine From Amsterdam Seized At Dulles Airport
Nearly $1 million worth of ketamine never made it to the streets in the DMV after a package coming from Amsterdam into Dulles International Airport was intercepted, according to US Customs and Border Protection officials. Last month, nearly 34 pounds of ketamine hydrochloride arrived in an airline’s rushed baggage, but, officers at the airport made sure it did not go any further than that. CBP agriculture specialists initially detected anomalies when they x-rayed the suitcase on Aug. 8 when it arrived from the notoriously liberal nation, and officers were alerted. The anomalies c…
News
First-Grade Teacher In Montgomery County Arrested In Connection To Fentanyl-Related Death: PD
A first-grade teacher in Maryland has been arrested in connection to the fentanyl-related death of a District resident earlier this year, police in Montgomery County announced. Sarah Katherine Magid, an educator with the county's public schools, was arrested on Monday following a search and seizure warrant by the DEA and local police at her Burtonsville home following an investigation into a March 2024 overdose. An autopsy later determined that the DC man's cause of death was fentanyl toxicity. According to the Montgomery County Department of Police, following the man's death, it was deter…
News
Tuflah Davies, Malik Martin Sentenced After Fentanyl Bust
Two men who transported thousands of fentanyl pills across the country into Maryland will spend years in prison for bringing the poison into Montgomery County. Prince George's County residents Malik Marin, of Bowie, and Tuflah Davies, of Laurel, both 27, will spend years behind bars after admitting to possession of a large amount of fentanyl, the state's attorney's office announced. Both received the same sentence: 15 years in prison with all but five years to serve, followed by five years of supervised probation following their release. In December last year, the pair traveled from Los An…
News
Dealer Who Sold Thousands Of Fentanyl Pills In DC, Maryland To Undercover DEA Agent Sentenced
One half of a dubious duo who sold thousands of fentanyl pills will spend years in prison after admitting to his role in the distribution scheme, authorities announced. Beltsville resident Edward Steven Monge, 23, was sentenced to 96 months in prison for participating in a fentanyl distribution conspiracy in which he sold at least 4,500 pills in a scheme involving 26-year-old Silver Spring native Jennifer Echeverria Flores. According to prosecutors, between February and August last year, Monge sold more than 4,500 pills containing fentanyl to Echeverria Flores, who then sold those…
Police & Fire
Anne Arundel County Dealer Gets 8 Years In Prison For Fentanyl Possession, Distribution: Feds
An Anne Arundel County man was sentenced to eight years behind bars for fentanyl possession and distribution, authorities announced Thursday, May 14. Orlando Ray Coleman, Sr., 44, of Millersville, was sentenced to eight years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl, US Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron said in a joint release. Coleman pleaded guilty in November 2019 to operating as a drug trafficker in Annapolis and Baltimore with help from supplier Clarence Coby, wh…
News
Father-Son Scammers In Maryland Sentenced For Laundering Millions Through Drugs, Bitcoin: Feds
A 72-year-old Maryland father and his 38-year-old son have been sentenced for a money laundering conspiracy involving Bitcoins and Xanax, federal authorities announced. Joseph Farace, 72, of Sparks, Maryland, received a 19-month federal prison sentence that will be followed by two years of supervised release. His son, Ryan Farace, of Reisterstown, a previously convicted felon, got a 54-month sentence, US Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron said in a joint release. Ryan Farace was first convicted for a scheme to manufacture and sell Xanax in exchange for Bitcoin throu…
News
Hundreds Of Fentanyl-Laced Pills Lands Maryland Drug Dealer In Prison: DOJ
Eon Brummel will have time to think about his actions after being sentenced for possessing hundreds of pills containing fentanyl over the summer in Montgomery County, the state's attorney's office announced on Tuesday. Brummel, 27, a Germantown resident, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison - with all but five years suspended - after he admitted to distributing drugs before his arrest in May. Specifically, Brummel pleaded guilty to both distribution of narcotics and possession of a large amount of narcotics when he was caught with more than 600 pills. In May, an investigation was launc…
News
46 Pounds Of 'Special K' Worth $1.3M Intercepted At Dulles Airport
Nearly 50 pounds of animal tranquilizer was found in an air cargo shipment from Cameroon at Washington Dulles Airport earlier this month. The 46 pounds of ketamine was found in five of the seven bags of Garri and Water FuFu, of Cameroon, on Oct. 10, US Customs and Border Protection said. The ketamine weighed 20.87 kilograms, or 45 pounds and 15 ounces, and had a street value of about $1.3 million. The shipment was destined to an address in Washington, D.C. Inside the shipment, agriculture specialists found five packages labeled as Water Fufu, a solid porridge made from puree of cassava or …
News
Enough Fentanyl To Kill 4M People Taken Off Maryland Streets During Massive Bust, DEA Says
Dozens of weapons and more than eight kilograms of fentanyl will not make it to Maryland streets following a wide-ranging bust, the state's Attorney General announced. Four people have been arrested for their roles in a massive conspiracy to traffic large amounts of drugs through the region, according to AG Anthony Brown on Monday. BPD is proud to partner with the @OAGMaryland and our many regional law enforcement partners in bringing down this criminal enterprise. We are committed to apprehending those responsible for bringing guns & drugs into our neighborhoods. #LawEnforcementPar…
News
Pair Sold Thousands Of Pills To Undercover DEA Officers In DMV Region: Feds
A dubious duo is facing federal charges after selling thousands of fentanyl pills to undercover DEA agents in Washington, DC and Maryland, authorities announced. Beltsville resident Edward Steven Monge, 22, and 26-year-old Jennifer Echeverria Flores, of Silver Spring, have been indicted on charges for their alleged roles in a fentanyl distribution conspiracy, officials say. According to the charging documents, on five different occasions between February and mid-July, Echeverria Flores - who allegedly used Monge as her supplier - sold approximately 4,500 pills containing fentanyl …
News
Man Working With Drug Dealer Attempted To Kill DEA Agent In Maryland: Feds
A Maryland man admitted to attempting to kill a federal officer after opening fire on a DEA agent in Baltimore who was undercover investigating reported drug trafficking, federal authorities announced. Davon Rogers, 40, of Baltimore, pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of a federal officer in connection to a December 2021 incident with co-conspirator Juan Hester, 41, who previously copped to drug charges. According to Rogers’ plea, on Dec. 29, 2021, he and a second person approached a vehicle in the 2500 block of West Fayette Street in Baltimore, where the DEA agent was surveilling the a…
News
Brother-Sister Duo Cop To Selling Fentanyl-Laced Pills To Woman With Previous OD In DC
It was a family affair for a brother-sister duo who admitted to selling fake prescription pills laced with fentanyl that led to the fatal overdose of a 20-year-old woman in 2021 in Washington, DC. Larry Jerome Eastman, 22, of Temple Hills, and his sister, DC resident Justice Michelle Eastman, 26, have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl following the death of a known drug user, federal authorities announced. Prosecutors said that the Eastmans were linked to the fatal overdose when investigators reviewed their victim’s phone following…
News
Convicted Maryland Felon Sentenced For Illegal Guns, Host Of Narcotics During Drug Bust: DOJ
A convicted felon is going to spend more time behind bars after admitting to drug and weapon charges after he was busted with fentanyl and more than a dozen illegal firearms, federal officials announced. Jessup resident Edward Burton, 38, was sentenced to 13 years in prison, followed by four years of supervised release after pleading guilty to federal charges of possession of more than 400 grams of fentanyl with intent to distribute and to being a felon in possession of a firearm. According to officials, Burton’s guilty plea came following a DEA investigation into a drug-trafficking operati…
News
Enough Fentanyl To Kill 3.5 Million Users Seized, Baltimore Man Busted By Bergen Detectives
Bergen County prosecutor’s detectives seized enough fentanyl to produce nearly 3½ million potentially fatal doses, along with enough heroin to fill more than 27,000 folds, while arresting a Baltimore man. Carlo Francisco Olivar Gomez, a 42-year-old painter by trade, was caught with more than 15 pounds of fentanyl and more than six pounds of heroin, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. According to the DEA, it takes only a single two-milligram dose of fentanyl to kill a person. A pound of fentanyl can produce 226,796 two-milligram doses. Multiplying that by 15 pounds gives…
News
Murderous East Coast MS-13 Leader From NJ Sentenced In MD To Life
A Jersey Shore MS-13 overlord who ran the gang’s East Coast operation was sentenced in Maryland to life in federal prison on Friday, April 1 for a “reign of terror” across several states, the U.S. Justice Department announced. Miguel Angel “Reaper” Corea Diaz, 41, of Long Branch, NJ will have to serve out the sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. The capture of Corea Diaz was “one of the biggest takedowns of a high-ranking MS-13 leader in the United States," a district attorney in Nassau County said after he was indicted on Long Island in December 2018. Corea Dia…
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