By REUTERS MARCH 26, 2015, 12:11 P.M. E.D.T.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents had alleged “sex parties” with prostitutes over several years, said a report published on Thursday and stemming from a review of allegations of misconduct by several DEA agents in Colombia.
The alleged parties were funded by local drug cartels, said the report by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General, an agency internal watchdog.
Among the DEA allegations, 10 agents – an assistant regional director and nine special agents – had the alleged sex parties “at government-leased headquarters,” and three of the special agents “were provided money, expensive gifts, and weapons from drug cartel members,” according to the report.
After investigation, seven of the agents admitted attending the parties, and were suspended for between two and 10 days.
The DEA declined to comment.
The report cited “repeated allegations of DEA Special Agents … patronizing prostitutes and frequenting a brothel while in an overseas posting.”
It came in the wake of a prostitution scandal involving Secret Service agents in Cartagena, Colombia, in 2012 that damaged the agency’s straitlaced reputation.
Inspectors also criticized the FBI and DEA for initially refusing to provide unredacted information requested, and then providing information that was “still incomplete.”
Feds Gone Wild
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD of the New York TIMES MARCH 27, 2015
It certainly holds promise as a plot for a B-list thriller: Drug Enforcement Administration agents stationed in Colombia regularly cavort with prostitutes at parties paid for by local drug cartels. In a few instances, cash and expensive gifts appear to change hands. A local officer is kind enough to keep an eye on the agents’ guns and property while the agents are busy with the girls.
It sounds like fiction, but in fact, this is all documented in a new Department of Justice inspector general report, which found systemic failures in how cases of misconduct by American law enforcement agents abroad were reported and investigated. In the sex parties case, agents who admitted attending the events received suspensions that ranged from just two to 10 days.
The review, which focused on investigations of sexual misconduct by American law enforcement officers between 2009 and 2012, found that in some cases supervisors chose to handle the allegations without reporting them to headquarters or fully assessing the security risks.
Such behavior makes federal agents vulnerable to extortion and blackmail. It also has the potential to imperil criminal prosecutions that the agents help build because the documented misdeeds can easily be used to challenge the agents’ integrity and credibility.
In some instances, cases of misconduct came to light only when the State Department brought them to the attention of officials in Washington. In May 2010, for example, officials at the drug agency’s headquarters learned that the assistant to a senior agent posted abroad had complained that the agent had invited the assistant to watch pornographic movies and routinely threw items around the office. When a second employee complained about the agent’s behavior to the top agency official in the undisclosed country, that staff member was advised to avoid the agent, according to the report.
The reluctance by the F.B.I. and the D.E.A. to turn over embarrassing files and the lax punishment some of the offending officers received suggest there is little commitment to getting to the root of the problem.
As long as there is a sense of impunity in some corners of the federal work force abroad, it will very likely continue to be tempting for some agents to believe that they can operate under boys-will-be-boys rules.
Commentary: Boys-will-be-boys and that’s what this incident reveals. They are not grown men, holier-than-thou types sacrificing fame and fortune to fight this “war on drugs.” They’re kids. It’s why I am amused when big time drug dealers “flirt” with these guys. Treat them with respect, but don’t grovel. They’re just kids.
And for g-d’s sake, boys, can’t you get your own girls?
– David Zapp