GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – On the morning of August, 25, 2020, more than 70 law enforcement officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration Grand Junction Resident Office and law enforcement partners from 12 federal, state and local agencies conducted a marijuana eradication operation in the area north of Rifle, Colo.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. –Anthony Contreras, 22, Overland Park, Kan., is charged with one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, one count of distributing fentanyl and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. The crimes are alleged to have occurred July 22, 2020, in Wyandotte County, Kan.

HARTFORD, Conn. – DEA New England Division Special Agent in Charge Brian D. Boyle and John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that RAMEL GENERAL, also known as “Ra,” 38, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford to 120 months of imprisonment, followed by four years of supervised release, for his role in a southeastern Connecticut drug trafficking ring.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge of the New York Division Ray Donovan, and U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr.

TOPEKA, Kan. – A Kansas man was charged in a federal indictment unsealed today with growing thousands of poppy plants at his home in Clay County in an effort to manufacture heroin, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said.

Matthew Pfeiffer, 43, Morganville, Kan., is charged with one count of attempting to manufacture opium, one count of manufacturing thebaine (a constituent of opium) and one count of using a telephone in furtherance of drug trafficking.

ST. LOUIS – Willie Bernard Hollywood, 42, of Caruthersville, Missouri, was sentenced to 262 months of incarceration on one count of conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine.

Hollywood appeared before U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. on August 24, in Cape Girardeau. Hollywood was ordered to forfeit $73,960.00 in drug proceeds and will be placed on supervised release for a term of five years after the completion of his incarceration.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – U.S. Attorney Tim Garrison announced today that 288 arrests have been made by local and federal law enforcement officers in Operation LeGend.

Among those arrested since the launch of the operation, 61 are federal defendants. Among the remaining 227 arrests, 24 were homicide cases and 72 were fugitives with either state or federal warrants for their arrest. The remaining 131 non-fugitive arrests were referred for prosecution in state court.

In addition to the arrests, agents and officers have seized 89 firearms during Operation LeGend.

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A driver who was stopped on a Kansas highway with 23 pounds of methamphetamine in his car was sentenced today to 164 months in federal prison.

Eduardo Garcia-Patino, 45, San Jancinto, Calif., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. According to court documents, Garcia-Patino was stopped for a traffic violation while driving eastbound on I-70 in Geary County, Kan. Investigators found a red duffel bag in his truck containing the methamphetamine.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – At a press conference in Kansas City, Missouri, today, Attorney General William P. Barr announced updates on Operation Legend.