MCALLEN, Texas — U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Agents received weapons from Colombian paramilitary terrorist groups for personal use and engaged in wild sex parties as if they were teens on Spring Break, yet rather than face stiff punishment, they either got a slap on the wrist or were given promotions.
The longtime practice of ignoring this wild behavior brought DEA leadership under fire from a U.S. Congressional Oversight Investigation.
Michele Leonhart, the top official in the DEA, testified before the committee trying to defend her agency and her actions; however, given the wild nature of the allegations, her testimony did little to appease the committee. Read Leonhart’s testimony here.
Agents assigned to foreign posts in order to conduct investigations into major drug cartels engaged in wild parties with prostitutes dating back to 2001, and obtained weapons from the Colombian Paramilitary groups, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Inspector General.
In a summary of the allegations which the Congressional Oversight Committee focused on, one of the agents is listed as having received an AK-47 from the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia) while another is listed as receiving various AK-47s from a “Para-military terrorist organization” after meeting one of their members in the jungle. The weapons were taken to the U.S. embassy.
Other violations included having intermediaries hire prostitutes for agents from the Bogota DEA office for 15 to 20 parties, and asking one of the individuals named in the report to stay at the parties, watching over the agents’ weapons and personal belongings, while the agents had sex with the prostitutes.
Other allegations of misconduct point to the agents paying for sex parties with federal funds allocated for drug enforcement operations. The report noted that the married agents were the ones that were “out of control” when it came to having sex with prostitutes and strippers.
In regards to punishment, of 10 agents listed in the summary used by the congressional oversight committee, the harshest punishment was a 10 day suspension. Other punishments included 3-day- suspensions, a 1-day suspension, and three agents suffering no punishment at all. Of those three, one was cleared, one was given a written reprimand, and one had his case closed upon retirement.
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