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Friday, jun 5
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DEA
News
21 Arrested In Massive Eastern PA Cocaine Trafficking Bust: Attorney General
A high-level cocaine trafficking organization has been dismantled following a sweeping investigation across eastern Pennsylvania, Attorney General Dave Sunday announced on Saturday, Sept. 6. Investigators charged 21 individuals connected to the Jimmie Torres–led operation, which allegedly ran primarily out of north Philadelphia with extensions into Bucks and Montgomery counties, according to the release. Among those arrested were Torres and his son, Matthew Torres, who oversaw the enterprise when his father was in Puerto Rico. Authorities said 16 suspects were taken into custody Thursday ac…
News
‘Operation Powder Burn’: PA Man Still At Large Amid Huge NY Gun Trafficking Bust
A massive, eight-month investigation into an illegal gun and drug trafficking ring operating out of Orange County has resulted in the arrest of 20 people and the recovery of more than 55 firearms, hundreds of grams of drugs, and over $65,000 in cash, prosecutors announced. Dubbed “Operation Powder Burn,” the coordinated effort spanned multiple states and involved local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, making it the largest gun trafficking case in Orange County history, District Attorney David M. Hoovler said in an announcement on Friday, Aug. 1. The investigation re…
News
PA Police Chief, Marine, Dad In Prison For Meth Pleads Guilty In Mushrooms Case: DA
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…
Police & Fire
Feds Raid Outlaw Biker Gang After Hookah Lounge Bloodbath With 80 Shots Fired
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 Philly 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…
Police & Fire
'F—ing Goldmine:' 35 Arrested, 5 Pounds Of Cocaine Seized In PA Cocaine Crackdown, DA Says
Thirty-five people have been charged in connection with three cocaine and crack cocaine drug trafficking organizations operating in Norristown, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele announced Tuesday, July 1. The arrests follow a months-long investigation dubbed Operation Cocaine Goldmine, which began in late 2024 as officials noticed a decline in fentanyl use but a resurgence in cocaine fueled by falling wholesale prices, authorities said. One alleged trafficker, Jerome Berry, called Norristown “a f—ing goldmine… A f—ing crack and coke mine,” according to a recorded conversat…
News
Luxury Cars, $99K+, 8 Kilos Of Cocaine Seized In Massive
Nj-pa-de
Drug Bust
A months-long undercover operation spanning Pennsylvania and New Jersey led to the arrest of six men accused of running a major cocaine trafficking ring, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer announced on Tuesday, March 18. Dubbed "Operation Spark Plug," the investigation was spearheaded by the Delaware County Narcotics Task Force with assistance from the Pennsylvania State Police, Delaware State Police, the Camden County, New Jersey District Attorney’s Office, the DEA, and the FBI. Authorities seized over 8 kilograms of cocaine, nearly $100,000 in cash, multiple luxury vehicle…
News
Missing 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 …
News
$33K Laundered, Vehicles Sold To Drug Traffickers By PA Car Dealership:
Usdoj
A Lancaster car dealership laundered more than $33,000 in drug money through vehicle sales, leading to federal prison sentences for two men, prosecutors announced on Monday, Jan. 27. Christopher Lopez, 41, and Michael Torres, 43, both of Lancaster, were sentenced after being convicted of conspiring to launder cash proceeds represented as cocaine sales, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Lopez, the owner of C&D Motorsports, received one year and one day in prison, while Torres, a salesperson, was sentenced to six months. Both were also orde…
Police & Fire
Overdose Death Of PA County EMS Worker Uncovers Online Pharmacy Operation: Police
An overdose death in Bucks County led to the takedown of an illicit online pharmacy based in the Dominican Republic, Warrington Township police announced in a press release issued Monday, Jan. 6. The investigation began in April 2022 after a Bucks County EMS first responder died of a drug overdose, police said. The day after the victim’s death, a FedEx package containing Valium and Rivotril (Clonazepam) was delivered to their residence in Bucks County, according to investigators. Detectives traced the drugs to an online pharmacy operating under the domain “Sure Life Solutions,” police said.…
News
Punched Federal Corrections Officer At PA Prison Lands Kentucky Drug Trafficker Extra 41 Months
A Kentucky drug trafficker serving time in Pennsylvania has been sentenced to an additional 41 months in prison for punching a corrections officer at the Federal Correctional Institute (FCI) Allenwood, federal officials announced on Monday, Dec. 23. Demetrius Catching, 34, formerly of Nicholasville, Kentucky, attacked the officer in 2016 while serving a 60-month sentence for distributing crack cocaine. The sentence, handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani, will run consecutively to the 148 months Catching is already serving for drug distribution and money laundering convic…
Police & Fire
23-Year-Old Taiwanese Operator Of $100 Million Dark Web Drug Market Seized By Feds At JFK
Federal agents at JFK Airport seized a 23-year-old Taiwanese national who the Justice Department said owned and operated a dark web drug bazaar that produced well over $100 million in sales. The “Incognito Market” created by Rui-Siang Lin enabled its users to anonymously buy and sell drugs around the globe for nearly 3½ years, US Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and other federal officials announced on Monday, May 20. Lin -- also known as Ruisiang Lin, 林睿庠, Pharoah, and faro – mastermineded a clandestine e-commerce network where buyers could browse thousands of listings for heroin, LSD, …
Police & Fire
Dealer Gets 14 Years Without Parole In Historic Jersey Shore Drug Bust, Brother Up Next
UPDATE: The second of two brothers who pleaded guilty in the largest drug bust in Atlantic County history -- 45 pounds of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine combined -- was the first to be sentenced. Fourteen years was the best that Ricardo Clavijo, 42, of Egg Harbor Township could get from a plea deal with the federal government. He'll have to serve just about all of it, too, because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. Clavijo’s brother, Christopher Gonzalez of Pleasantville, is up for sentencing next. The brothers had more than 20 kilos combined of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine…
News
NJ Dealer Awaiting Trial For Shooting Detectives Gets 13 Years In Federal Drug Takedown
A manager of a major New Jersey drug ring who's awaiting trial for shooting two undercover detectives must spend 13 years in federal custody after taking a plea deal from the government in a separate case. Juan Figueroa, 25, was the last of 19 members of the Bloods-related group who were convicted following a federal assault on an open-air drug market in Camden that provided walkup and drive-by service to its customers. Figueroa and two associates were also charged in state court with ambushing two Camden County Police detectives who were investigating the ring, which peddled heroin, crack,…
News
Jersey Shore Ex-Con Loses In Federal Trial For Multi-Pounds Of Heroin, Fentanyl, Coke, Gun
An ex-con caught with several pounds of heroin, cocaine and fentanyl -- not to mention a loaded gun -- in his Ocean County apartment is facing significant time behind bars following convictions in federal court. Dyshawn Moss, 43, of Manchester, was found guilty of drug and weapons offenses, including being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, following a four-day trial in U.S. District Court in Trenton. In addition to having an informant buy drugs from Moss, DEA agents used "physical surveillance, court-authorized location information, controlled purchases of narcotics, and lawfull…
News
DEA Warns Of 'Rainbow Fentanyl' Made To Look Like Candy
As if the drug wasn’t already terrifying enough: The DEA says it’s seeing increasing amounts of “rainbow fentanyl” being seized across the United States. The trend “appears to be a new method used by drug cartels to sell highly addictive and potentially deadly fentanyl made to look like candy to children and young people,” the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration warned. This month alone, the agency said, law enforcers at various levels have seized brightly covered fentanyl power and pills in 18 states. Some of it even comes in blocks that resemble sidewalk chalk, federal authorities said. …
News
Jersey Shore Man Found With Rifle, Silencer, Bogus Federal Agent Badges Takes Plea
A Jersey Shore man who was caught with a handful of phony federal agent IDs in his own name admitted also having a homemade rifle and a silencer. Jeffrey Backlund, 57, of Waretown, took a deal from the government rather than face trial, pleading guilty on Wednesday, April 27, to illegally possessing all of them, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Backlund was arrested after a warranted search prompted by a domestic disturbance in September 2020 turned up “a number of firearms and imitation federal identification badges,” Sellinger said. “They found one short-barreled, AR-style, .223 …
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…
News
Feds: NJ Drug Dealer Gets 10 Years, No Parole
An admitted drug dealer from Union County is headed to federal prison for 10 years. Tyrell "Hell Rell" Wilson, 36, of Rahway, must serve out just about all of the sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Wilson was busted in September 2019 with ex-con Marvin "Black Jesus" Lagrier, 39, of Newark. Authorities said they seized cocaine base, heroin, fentanyl, drug-packaging materials, a gun and several rounds of ammunition after searching Wilson's vehicle and a backpack he tossed while trying to flee. They also recovered several Newark Housing Authority uniforms bearin…
News
Feds
: NJ Men Busted Following Three Fentanyl-Laced NYC Drug-Delivery Deaths
Two North Jersey men worked for a drug-courier service that peddled fentanyl-laced cocaine responsible for killing three customers in a single day, federal authorities in Manhattan charged. Billy "Jason" Ortega, 35, of West Milford was the dispatcher who sent Kaylen Rainey, 30, of Manhattan to three different city addresses on March 17, 2021 after promoting "new batches" of drugs, an FBI complaint on file in the Southern District Court of Manhattan alleges. Three customers -- Amanda Scher, Julia Ghahramani and Ross Mtangi -- all died after ingesting the coke, authorities said. Scher texted…
Police & Fire
Smackdown
: 23 Arrested In Takedown Of PA Heroin Ring That Caused Weekend Of 100 Overdoses
A major drug ring that supplied mass amounts of tainted heroin that made NARCAN ineffective and caused more than 100 overdoses in just one weekend has been dismantled, authorities in Berks County announced. "Operation SmackDown" was launched in September 2021, when the 101 heroin/fentanyl overdoses overwhelmed Reading's hospital systems and left three victims dead and the rest with life-threatening symptoms, Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams said at a press conference. A leading addiction doctor called the overdoses an "outright poisoning," Adams said. The symptoms caused low he…
News
Jersey City Five Charged With Murder Of Rival Gang Member, Innocent Girl, 17
Five reputed members of a Jersey City street gang were charged federally with murder in the shooting deaths the same week of a rival and a 17-year-old female bystander. Shaquan "Nut" Rush and Darby "GoHard" Shirden, both 21, and Jeremy "Smoov" Perez, 23, opened fire on a group of people outside the Salem Lafayette Apartments on April 1, 2020 in retaliation for the killing the day before of a high-ranking member of their Rutgers Avenue gang, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Two people were wounded, one of them an 18-year-old associate of the Salem Lafayette gang who survived the shoo…
News
Pagans Shoot At Hells Angel On NJ Turnpike After Baseball Bat Bar Brawl, Feds Charge
Two high-ranking members of the Pagans who were beaten with baseball bats in a barroom brawl sought revenge by shooting at one of the Hells Angels on the New Jersey Turnpike, federal authorities charged. Larry "Savage" Ortiz, 31, of Elizabeth, and Junius "Jayo" Aquino, aka 38, of Vauxhall, were in a Verona bar when they were attacked on Oct. 21, 2020, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. A week later, the pair shot at an associate of the rival biker gang "in retaliation for the Verona assault," an indictment returned by a grand jury in Newark charges. The indictment retur…
News
NJ Ring That Dealt Fentanyl, Crack Smashed By Federal, County, Local Crime-Fighting Team
Eleven accused members of a drug ring that authorities said openly peddled crack and potentially fatal fentanyl in a Newark neighborhood were charged federally on Wednesday. The ring's "primary supplier," Frazier Burton, 46, was caught with 100 bricks of heroin and fentanyl when tactical officers arrested him Wednesday morning, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. At 50 bags per brick, that's 5,000 individual packages -- all of which Honig said carried the neighborhood drug network's particular stamps. The case took several months for an ad hoc team of local, county and federal inve…
News
Historic Drug Seizure Near Atlantic City Nets Fentanyl, Heroin, Coke, Feds Say
Local and federal authorities seized more than 30 pounds of fentanyl, heroin and cocaine – the area’s largest narcotics haul in history -- while raiding a basement drug mill just outside Atlantic City, authorities said. A federal judge in Camden ordered via videoconference that Ricardo Clavijo, 39, who lives in the Egg Harbor Township home, and Christopher Gonzalez, 37, of Pleasantville, remain held without bail, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Each is charged with conspiring to have and sell more than a kilo of heroin. “By all accounts, this case represents the largest single…
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