-Caveat Lector-
Agent Cited 'Political Pressure' In Shutdown of DEA Investigation
Fox News-Friday, February 2, 2001
By Rita Cosby
WASHINGTON � The House Government Reform Committee is
investigating the suspicious transfer of special agents at the
Drug Enforcement Administration in the final days of the Clinton
administration.
Committee members want to know whether any agents were rewarded
with promotions in exchange for quashing a long-term
investigation of Houston rap record label owner James Prince, who
was under investigation by federal authorities for drug
trafficking.
The controversy has been brought to the attention of the Bush
administration. Chicago-based DEA agent Don Sturn recently wrote
White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card requesting the transfers
be looked into immediately.
Five senior agents � including three who were transferred � have
told Fox News they believe many of the 16 agents were suddenly
relocated because of their involvement in the investigation of
Prince, owner of Rap-A-Lot Records.
"More than 50 percent of the reshuffling has to do with
accommodations, rewards and punishments for whistleblowers," Pepe
Herrera, an attorney for agent Sandy Gonzalez, told Fox News.
Gonzalez, a Miami agent, had told his superiors that the
Rap-A-Lot investigation was whitewashed, and he believes he was
transferred, against his wishes, as a result. He was reassigned
to El Paso, Texas � a move he considers a demotion.
DEA agents conducted the Rap-A-Lot investigation throughout the
1990s. About a dozen of Prince's associates were charged with
drug trafficking during that time, and Prince was under
surveillance for suspected drug trafficking.
California Congresswoman Asked to Intervene
While still under investigation in 1999, Prince called Rep.
Maxine Waters, D-Calif., to intervene on his behalf, saying that
he was being harassed by agents in the Houston field office.
Waters' husband, Sidney Williams, owns a home in Houston's 5th
Ward, which is Prince's childhood neighborhood.
According to DEA agents, Waters immediately complained to
then-Attorney General Janet Reno about the Prince investigation.
Within months of her appeal, Vice President Al Gore went to
Houston to visit a local church. According to DEA officials, Gore
also met with Prince, although a spokesman for Prince denied that
the two ever met.
Two days after Gore's return to Washington, the investigation was
dropped.
In addition, Waters insisted that the DEA's Office of
Professional Responsibility (OPR) investigate whether Prince was
harassed by agents. Officials in the OPR conducted an interview
with Prince in Waters' Washington office. After their internal
investigation, OPR reprimanded one lower-level agent and cleared
another.
Agent: 'Now We Bow Down to the Political Pressure'
The head of the DEA's Houston field office, Ernest Howard,
testified to congressional investigators in December that there
was no political motive in dropping the case. But investigators
have obtained subpoenaed e-mails from Howard contradicting his
claims.
"Now we bow down to the political pressure," Howard wrote to
another agent. "The Houston Division will terminate all active
investigation of Rap-A-Lot. If any information comes to the
attention of agents in the Houston Division regarding Rap-A-Lot
or James [Prince], it will be vetted through [headquarters] prior
to any action taken here."
Congressional investigators referred Howard's case to the
Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General (OIG), which
is now conducting an investigation into whether Howard lied to
Congress. Despite the OIG's investigation, Howard was promoted
last month to the Washington DEA office.
A DEA spokesman told Fox News there was no political pressure
behind dropping the Rap-A-Lot matter, that it was closed based on
the merits of the case. The spokesman also said there was no quid
pro quo in the recent transfers, merely that it was time to
change many of the divisions and many factors were taken in to
account.
But some lawmakers are still troubled by the events, despite the
denials of wrongdoing. "It's very suspicious, and I think we in
the Congress will be looking into this to try and get to the
bottom of what is a very, very disturbing and suspicious activity
in the DEA," said Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., a member of the Reform
Committee.
Fox News made repeated attempts for comment from Waters and has
received no response.
FOXNews.com's Sharon Kehnemui contributed to this report
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