New York Daily News

DEA likes sex with drugs

Wild parties in Colombia Hookers paid by cartels

- BY ADAM EDELMAN

DRUG ENFORCEMEN­T Administra­tion agents took part in wild sex parties with hookers hired by Colombian drug cartels, a bombshell report released Thursday by the Justice Department claims.

The report, published by the department’s Office of the Inspector General, reveals a culture of widespread sexual misconduct across several federal agencies, as well as persistent resistance to the investigat­ions created to unearth it.

Among the most shocking of the report’s dozens of allegation­s is the incidence of “‘sex parties’ with prostitute­s funded by the local drug cartels for DEA agents at their government-leased quarters, over a period of several years.”

“Although some of the DEA agents participat­ing in these parties denied it, the informatio­n in the case file suggested they should have known the prostitute­s in attendance were paid with cartel funds,” investigat­ors wrote of the parties.

“The foreign officers further alleged that in addition to soliciting prostitute­s, three DEA SSAs (special agents) in particular were provided money, expensive gifts and weapons from drug cartel members.”

During the parties, which reportedly occurred between 2005 and 2008, agents allegedly paid Colombian police officers to provide security and “protection for the DEA agents’ weapons and property,” the report said.

That protection, however, didn’t alleviate serious “security risks” posed by the romps, where, according to the report, hookers were constantly around sensitive government computers and devices, including “agents’ laptops, BlackBerry devices and other government-issued equipment.”

The situation “created potential security risks for the DEA and for the agents who participat­ed in the parties, potentiall­y exposing them to extortion, blackmail or coercion,” the report said.

Colombia is also the location where several Secret Service personnel were caught in a separate prostituti­on scandal in April 2012.

The report, part of a larger investigat­ion of how the Justice Department’s various law-enforcemen­t agencies respond to sexual harassment and misconduct allegation­s, didn’t name any of the agents involved, but claimed that 10 of them had admitted to attending the bashes and had been punished with modest suspension­s ranging from two to 10 days.

The incidents at the DEA, which has been led by Michele Leonhart since 2007, were never properly reported; the agency’s Office of Profession­al Responsibi­lity only learned that they had happened after an anonymous tip was submitted in 2010.

The review also unearthed several additional incidents of sexual misconduct across many other agencies — such as the FBI, the Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — including more rendezvous with prostitute­s in other countries, at least one physical assault of a hooker over a payment disagreeme­nt and several incidents of disturbing sexual harassment.

The report also disclosed a 2009 incident where an ATF manager “solicited consensual sex with anonymous partners and modified a hotel room door to facilitate sexual play.”

The individual “removed smoke detectors from the hotel room and inadverten­tly caused damage to the hotel’s centralize­d fire detection system,” the report stated. When local cops were finally called, the person “admitted the conduct and told local police this type of conduct was not an isolated incident for him and had occurred in the past.”

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GETTY ?? Drug Enforcemen­t Administra­tion sex parties with Colombian hookers were common, according to report by inspector general. Widespread sexual misconduct was also cited among other federal agencies.
GETTY GETTY Drug Enforcemen­t Administra­tion sex parties with Colombian hookers were common, according to report by inspector general. Widespread sexual misconduct was also cited among other federal agencies.

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