hursday, February 20, 2020

DEA Announces Launch of Operation Crystal Shield

Efforts will Focus on Main U.S. Methamphetamine Trafficking Transportation Hubs

Attorney General William P. Barr and Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon today announced that the DEA will direct enforcement resources to methamphetamine “transportation hubs” — areas where methamphetamine is often trafficked in bulk and then distributed across the country. While continuing to focus on stopping drugs being smuggled across the border, DEA’s Operation Crystal Shield will ramp up enforcement to block their further distribution into America’s neighborhoods.

DEA has identified eight major methamphetamine transportation hubs where these efforts will be concentrated: Atlanta, Dallas, El Paso, Houston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Phoenix, and St. Louis. Together, these DEA Field Divisions accounted for more than 75 percent of methamphetamine seized in the U.S. in 2019.

“While meth is not a new drug, it has seen a troubling resurgence over the past few years,” said Attorney General William P. Barr. “Manufactured mostly in Mexican labs and smuggled into the United States across the southwest border, meth is a drug that is both cheap and potent, creating a deadly combination. Just as the Trump Administration has acted swiftly to stem the tide of opioid fatalities, it will use every weapon in its arsenal – such as the DEA’s Operation Crystal Shield - to stop dangerous methamphetamine from reaching American neighborhoods and harming American families.”

Operation Crystal Shield builds on existing DEA initiatives that target major drug trafficking networks, including the Mexican cartels that are responsible for the overwhelming majority of methamphetamine trafficked into and within the United States. From FY 2017 to FY 2019, DEA domestic seizures of methamphetamine increased 127 percent from 49,507 pounds to 112,146 pounds. During the same time frame, the number of DEA arrests related to methamphetamine rose nearly twenty percent.

“For decades, methamphetamine has been a leading cause of violence and addiction – a drug threat that has never gone away,” said Acting Administrator Dhillon. “With a 22 percent increase in methamphetamine-related overdose deaths, now is the time to act, and DEA is leading the way with a surge of interdiction efforts and resources, targeting regional transportation hubs throughout the United States. By reducing the supply of meth, we reduce the violence, addiction, and death it spreads.”

Virtually all methamphetamine in the United States comes through major ports of entry along the Southwest Border and is transported by tractor trailers and personal vehicles along the nation’s highways to major transfer centers around the country. It is often found in poly-drug loads, alongside cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl.

The year 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of the Department of Justice. Learn more about the history of our agency

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Thursday, February 20, 2020

Texas Couple Sentenced to a Combined 140 Years in Prison for Conspiracy to Produce Child Pornography and Other Crimes Against Children

A husband and wife from Big Spring, Texas, were sentenced today to a combined 140 years in prison for crimes against multiple children.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S Attorney Erin Nealy Cox of the Northern District of Texas and Special Agent in Charge Ryan L. Spradlin of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) made the announcement.

Christopher James Regan, 38, a former shipping logistics manager, was sentenced to 90 years in prison after pleading guilty in October 2019 to conspiracy to produce child pornography and two counts of producing child pornography. Tanya Marie Regan, 35, was sentenced to 50 years in prison after her October 2019 guilty plea to conspiracy to produce child pornography and possession of prepubescent child pornography. The sentences, which were imposed by U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman of the Northern District of Texas, also included lifetime terms of supervised release for both defendants.

According to court documents, Christopher and Tanya Regan sexually abused and produced child pornography of multiple children, and they possessed and distributed child pornography to one another as well. The Regans also engaged in graphic discussions about the sexual abuse of children over several online platforms.

In plea papers, the pair admitted that at Christopher Regan’s direction, Tanya Regan repeatedly videotaped herself sexually abusing children for Christopher Regan’s sexual gratification.

When law enforcement seized electronics from the home, several graphic videos had been deleted, but were still stored in the recycle bin or on unallotted space on various SD cards. Undeleted videos were stored in a computer folder titled “users\tanya_000\pictures\privatevids\minor.”

HSI’s San Angelo, Texas, office, the Howard County Sheriff’s Office and the High Technology Investigative Unit within the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) investigated the case. Substantial assistance was provide by the HSI offices in Lubbock and Tyler, Texas, Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office, Texas Department of Public Safety, and the National Center for Mission and Exploited Children. Trial Attorney Kyle P. Reynolds of CEOS and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ann Howey and Jeffrey R. Haag prosecuted the case along with former Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell H. Lorfing.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please