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The driver of a box truck that struck and killed five bicyclists on a stretch of Nevada highway last week, and told investigators he fell asleep at the wheel, had a high level of methamphetamine in his system, prosecutors said Wednesday. Jordan Alexander Barson, 45, of Kingman, Arizona, faces 12 felony charges, including driving under the influence and reckless driving, in a criminal complaint filed in Las Vegas. "Choices have consequences," Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said after a Las Vegas judge issued a warrant for Barson's arrest in the Dec. 10 crash on U.S. 95 between Boulder City...

If you’ve ever filled out a Form 4473, you’re familiar with the Question 11e: “Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or other controlled substance?” In case you thought there was any ambiguity with regard to medical marijuana, you were wrong. Indeed, there is a warning in bold right underneath the question that clarifies: “Warning: The use or possession of marijuana remains unlawful under Federal law regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized or for medicinal or recreational purposes in the state where you reside.” Regardless of what one...

Six months after the Drug Enforcement Administration stole $43,000 from Stacy Jones at a North Carolina airport, her lawyer, Dan Alban, received a letter from the aptly named Douglas Kash, a senior attorney in the DEA's Asset Forfeiture Section. "I am writing to inform you of the decision to return the above-referenced property," Kash said. While the DEA offered no explanation for its sudden benevolence, the reversal fit a pattern: Government bullies who use civil asset forfeiture laws to seize allegedly crime-tainted property from innocent people tend to back down when they encounter unexpected resistance. But because challenging a forfeiture...

By the time you read this, Sidney Powell may have released her Kraken on America in the form of a filing about election events in Georgia. Until then, though, there is a healthy debate about whether Powell can make the case that Dominion and Smartmatic, both of which played a role in the disputed states, have Venezuela ties that prove their connection to American fraud. Roger L. Simon has entered the fray, detailing what two informants told him as background about these two companies and their ties to Venezuela.Writing at the Epoch Times, Simon, who tackles facts like a rigorous...

Marijuana has been called a “Gateway” drug. The thinking is that once a person experiences the effects of pot, they will have lost their reluctance to try stronger drugs such as cocaine, meth and heroin. “I smoked pot and lived through it. I kind of liked it. Maybe the stronger drugs won’t hurt me. Maybe they will be like pot, only better. They probably won’t kill me. Plus, it’s kind of exciting.” We sit after this election wondering how so many of our fellow citizens feel the need to cheat to achieve a political goal. Cheating is against the rules....

Mexico's former defense minister, Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos, was arrested Thursday at Los Angeles International Airport on a warrant from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). DEA Los Angeles Division spokesperson Nicole Nishida confirmed the arrest to Reuters but declined to provide any details. Mexico's foreign secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, said on Twitter that U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Christopher Landau informed him of Cienfuegos' detention. Cienfuegos, 72, served under former President Enrique Peña Nieto from 2012 to 2018. He was national defense secretary during an extended conflict between drug cartels and Mexico's army.

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COLUMBUS, Ga. – A defendant recorded from jail making threats against a federal official involved in his case was sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison, said Charles “Charlie” Peeler, the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia.Jonathan Dunlap, 30, of Pine Mountain, Harris County, Georgia was sentenced on Monday, August 3 by U.S. District Judge Clay Land to a combined 151 months in prison after pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine and threatening a federal official. There is no parole in the federal system.On July 24, 2019, federal agents with the...

Self-proclaimed Marxist and Black Lives Matter (BLM) co-founder Patrisse Cullors called on Democrats to make “sea changes” to their party platform and adopt radical legislation that calls to defund the police force, eliminate both the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and close all federal prisons and immigration detention centers, alongside various other radical demands — otherwise, “any claims of allyship and solidarity with our work to fight for black liberation are for naught.” Cullors stated there is “an opportunity right now to right the course of history” and warned that if not careful, the...

ORLANDO, Fla. – A Georgia woman was arrested at Walt Disney World after security for the Florida resort found two guns and some marijuana in her child's diaper bag, according to court documents. Yunique Smith, 27, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, was arrested July 18 on misdemeanor counts of carrying a concealed weapon and marijuana possession, the Orlando Sentinel reported. Smith was going through the Epcot security line with an adult man, their 7-month-old daughter and her 7-year-old son when the guard spotted a 9mm handgun and a plastic bag containing marijuana, an arrest report said. Orange County deputies responded. A...

Former Spokesman (2005-2009) Scammed Victims by Posing Falsely as Covert CIA Officer Involved in a Highly-classified Intelligence Program A former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) public affairs officer pleaded guilty today to defrauding at least a dozen companies of over $4.4 million by posing falsely as a covert officer of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Special Agent in Charge James A. Dawson of the FBI’s Washington Field Office Criminal Division made the announcementGarrison Kenneth Courtney, 44, of...

A former supervisory special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration is suing the Justice Department and DEA for forcing his early retirement from the agency in "retaliation" for whistleblower complaints he raised during his ongoing battle with a brain tumor. In his complaint, Eric Katz describes a “hostile work environment, unauthorized sharing of medical information” as well as “disability discrimination” and workplace retaliation. According to the complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, DEA violated the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 through “intentional manipulation of the Equal Employment Opportunity process, as it relates identification of and...

A paralegal specialist working for a U.S. Attorney’s Office in Texas has been accused of helping a Mexican drug cartel smuggle large amounts of cocaine, heroin, and meth into the U.S. Jennifer Loya worked at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio since March 2017. According to federal court records, Loya’s sister, Kimberly, is married to Roland Gustamante, an associate to the leader of the Cartel del Noreste. Loyo is accused of using her access to electronic surveillance information through her job to tip-off Gustamante, her sister, and their associates of various DEA investigations...

Mexico's president on Monday urged Washington to investigate "all" officials, including members of elite U.S. law enforcement agencies, with ties to a former Mexican security minister accused of taking bribes from a top drug gang. The arrest of ex-Security Minister Genaro Garcia Luna in Dallas late last year sent shockwaves across Mexico, where he had spearheaded a militarized assault on powerful drug gangs beginning under former President Felipe Calderon in 2006. Garcia Luna was subsequently indicted on charges of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel, the gang once led by drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman....

A former Green Beret has taken responsibility for what he claimed was a failed attack Sunday aimed at overthrowing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and that the socialist government said ended with eight dead. Jordan Goudreau’s comments in an interview with an exiled Venezuelan journalist capped a bizarre day that started with reports of a pre-dawn amphibious raid near the South American country’s heavily guarded capital. An AP investigation published Friday found that Goudreau had been working with a retired Venezuelan army general now facing U.S. narcotics charges to train dozens of deserting Venezuelan soldiers at secret camps inside neighboring Colombia....

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced Wednesday that more than 600 arrests have been made as a result of an interagency operation cracking down on Mexican cartel activity. “Project Python,” a DEA-led initiative, targeted members of Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG). According to the DEA, over the last six months federal law enforcement officials have been monitoring the activities of the accused. The operation resulted in more than 600 arrests nationwide, 350 indictments and “significant seizures of money and drugs,” according to the agencies. “Project Python marks the most comprehensive action to date in...

The Justice Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) today announced the results of Project Python, a DEA-led interagency operation encompassing all global investigations and related disruption activities targeting the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG).This announcement marks the successful conclusion of six months of investigative and enforcement activity targeting CJNG, culminating in large scale arrests throughout the country within the past week.  Project Python has resulted more than 600 arrests, 350 indictments, as well as significant seizures of money and drugs.“Project Python marks the most comprehensive action to date in the Department of Justice’s campaign to disrupt, dismantle,...

Like a number of states, concealed pistol license holders in Michigan are exempted from the requirement to undergo a NICS background check every time they purchase a new firearm. That’s because permit holders have already undergone an extensive background check and fingerprinting in order to be issued a permit in the first place. Michigan has had that exemption from the ATF since 2006, but yesterday the ATF rescinded it. Why? Because recreational marijuana is now legal in the state. Voters approved legalization in 2018 and retail sales started December 1, 2019. While buying and using weed may not be a...

Neither Terry Rolin or his daughter were ever charged with a crime, but that didn't stop the DEA from trying to seize more than $82,000 from them through civil asset forfeiture.The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will return more than $82,000 that it seized from an elderly Pittsburgh man and his daughter after a federal class-action lawsuit was filed on their behalf last month. The Institute for Justice, the libertarian-leaning public interest law firm that filed the lawsuit, announced today that the DEA will return $82,373 that it seized from Rebecca Brown six months ago at a Pittsburgh airport. The money...

(Reuters) - In just four years, marijuana use grew by 75% among Americans aged 65 and older, according to a new study, and researchers expressed concern over a lack of information on the potential health implications. The increase was most pronounced in women, those with higher incomes and more education, according to a report published on Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. The findings continue a trend seen over the last decade, said the study's lead author, Benjamin Han, an assistant professor of geriatric medicine and palliative care at the New York University School of Medicine. "Consider that not even 10...