-Caveat Lector- http://www.dailypress.com/a1/stories/46217sy0.htm Tuesday, Oct. 26, 1999 Trial of DEA agent in two shootings set to begin today By William H. McMichael Daily Press HAMPTON - The trial of a federal drug agent accused of shooting two men outside a Hampton bar begins today in Hampton Circuit Court. The agent, Joseph Armento, is accused of malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony during a Jan. 14 fracas at Rooney's Grille & Bar. Armento faces 20 years to life in prison on the first charge and a mandatory three years on the second. According to police, Armento and five other off-duty DEA agents had been drinking for hours at the bar, became unruly and were ordered to leave. Shortly after midnight, Armento and another patron began arguing. In short order, police say, the man drew his gun, and two of the three agents outside the bar drew theirs. As the man placed his gun down on a friend's truck, Armento fired, wounding that man and another attempting to flee in the truck. Hampton detectives found at least 13 spent 9 mm casings on the ground. The case -- and another involving an off-duty DEA agent who drew and fired his gun outside an El Paso, Texas, bar -- prompted DEA Administrator Thomas A. Constantine to issue a new policy prohibiting agents from engaging in excessive drinking, no matter what their duty status. Armento remains suspended without pay, which is standard DEA policy for agents charged with crimes. The five others -- who were placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal DEA investigation -- have all been disciplined, DEA spokesman Terry Parham said Monday. He couldn't provide details on the nature of the disciplinary actions but said it probably involved suspension without pay. In addition, one of the five resigned from the agency "after he received a proposal for his removal," Parham said. The agents -- all members of a Mobile Enforcement Team out of Washington, D.C. -- were in Hampton at the invitation of Police Chief Pat Minetti. Each DEA field division has its own MET, which the DEA offers to metropolitan areas around the country to bolster local drug-enforcement efforts. Minetti wanted federal help in suppressing illegal-drug use in the city and had asked the DEA to assign an MET to Hampton as early as September 1995, Hampton police Lt. Karl Gunther said. The METs bring along experienced people, equipment and money -- all at no cost to the locality. And while in Hampton, said Hampton police Lt. Karl Gunther, "they did a very good job." Gunther said the team began its local work in October 1998. Working in tandem with Gunther's Special Investigations Unit -- "the cooperation was outstanding," Gunther said -- the MET concentrated on drug activity in the Queen Street-Shell Road area and in Buckroe. But typically, Gunther said, "one thing leads to another," and some investigations ranged across the city. The success of the DEA team's work in Hampton is difficult to gauge because cases were split among a number of different federal and state prosecutors. Gunther said he thought that the team's work resulted in at least seven guilty pleas and that those convicted weren't small-time users. "They were going after people who were out here dealing," Gunther said. All that came to a temporary halt with the arrest of Armento. In court Monday, an attorney arguing to keep news-media cameras out of the trial said the undercover activity of the DEA agents was suspended at the time of the arrest. He said the halt was "because of press coverage of this case." Gunther wouldn't provide details about any decline in federal drug-enforcement assistance at that time but admitted that after Hampton police arrested Armento, "it just made things difficult." "There was kind of a cool period for a while," Gunther said. "It didn't help." He insisted that "there was no animosity or anything like that." With the suspensions, about half of the MET -- typically a 10-to-12-agent operation -- was out of commission for a time. Gunther declined to comment on whether the DEA team continued to work in Hampton. Parham, however, said he thought that the deployment was complete, with the exception of agents returning to provide testimony in various cases. Gunther replied carefully to questions about Armento and the MET with which he worked so closely. He's been called to testify in the trial and said he didn't want to say anything that could cause a problem in the courtroom. "It was just a very tragic situation," Gunther said. William H. 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