Officials arrested a second Department of Homeland Security agent in Salt Lake City, Utah, who is accused in an illicit drug case involving evidence belonging to the department.
The special agent recently arrested was identified as Nicholas Kindle, whose job it was to investigate illegal narcotics trafficking, Fox News reported on Saturday.
Kindle’s arrest came three weeks after Special Agent David Cole was arrested. Cole has been accused of being Kindle’s co-conspirator.
In a statement regarding Cole on December 18, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, who is head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said, “A drug dealer who carries a badge is still a drug dealer — and one who has violated an oath to uphold the law and protect the public.”
“Today’s indictment reflects the department’s commitment to holding accountable law enforcement officers who engage in criminal conduct, because no one is above the law,” she added.
The suspects are charged with felony drug distribution conspiracy. In addition, Kindle “also faces a charge of conspiracy to convert property of the U.S. government for profit,” the Fox article stated. Both men have had their Homeland Security credentials suspended. However, they have not yet been fired from their jobs.
The Fox report continued:
Prosecutors accuse Kindle and Cole of abusing their positions to acquire illegal drugs known as “bath salts” from Homeland Security evidence and from other law enforcement personnel, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, falsely claiming that they would use the drugs for legitimate investigations.
The pair allegedly began stealing drugs from evidence and lying to fellow agents about the reason for gathering them in 2021. Kindle and Cole also allegedly stole thousands of dollars in cash, a diamond ring and a Peruvian antiquity from evidence.
So-called “bath salts” are not heroin, cocaine, or methamphetamine, but the substance is damaging to a person’s health, Criminal Defense Attorney Clayton Simms told Fox 13 in December.
“It’s similar to methamphetamine in terms of effects,” he explained:
“Bath salts” can be sniffed, snorted, used orally, smoked, or injected, according to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The Fox report noted the two men are accused of selling the drugs between 2022 and 2024 to an individual whom they permitted to resell the drugs with no consequences.
The alleged scheme reportedly brought in upwards of $300,000. The suspects allegedly pushed a confidential informant to be a middleman in the scheme and set up meeting locations via an encrypted messaging app.
When the informant’s lawyer alerted the U.S. Attorney in Utah to the situation, the FBI opened an investigation in October, tracking the suspects and recording several instances when drugs were sold to the informant in the case, per the Fox report.
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