Drug agent sentenced to 13 years in corruption case

NEW ORLEANS — A prolific narcotics agent known as the “white devil” among drug traffickers was sentenced to more than 13 years behind bars for stealing money from suspects, falsifying government records and committing perjury during a federal trial.

U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo said the longtime U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent, Chad Scott, caused “far reaching” damage to the administration of justice.

The sentencing last week capped a five-year case that shook the DEA and resulted in convictions of three other members of a New Orleansbased federal drug task force.

Prosecutors portrayed Scott as more dangerous than the most hardened heroin dealers he locked up, saying the Louisiana lawman “broke every rule in the book” to enforce his “own approximation of justice.” They had asked Milazzo to sentence Scott to nearly two decades in prison.

“He undercut law enforcement and he disgraced the entire judicial process,” federal prosecutor Timothy Duree told the first jury that convicted Scott. “He was sworn to uphold the law but instead, he broke it for his own selfish purposes.”

Scott, 53, was found guilty at successive trials of a long list of corruption counts. The charges stemmed from an expansive federal investigation into misconduct claims that had surrounded Scott for much of his 17-year career, even as he racked up headline-grabbing drug busts.

Scott told Milazzo he was “ashamed of being here,” but he sought to underline his contributions to law enforcement and the DEA’s mission, in which he said he had truly believed. He was twice the target of murder-for-hire plots, he told the judge.

Scott is among a growing list of DEA agents who have been accused of abusing their authority in recent years. Another veteran agent, Jose Irizzary, pleaded guilty last year to conspiring with a Colombian cartel money launderer, filing false reports and ordering DEA staff to wire money slated for undercover stings to international accounts he controlled.

At least a dozen DEA agents across the country have been criminally charged since 2015 on counts ranging from wire fraud and bribery to selling firearms to drug traffickers, according to court records.