Daniel Chong

Two-Tiered Justice: How DEA Agents Commit Egregious Acts with Zero Accountability

by

Screen Shot 2015-09-18 at 11.06.16 AM

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has allowed its employees to stay on the job despite internal investigations that found they had distributed drugs, lied to the authorities or committed other serious misconduct, newly disclosed records show.

Lawmakers expressed dismay this year that the drug agency had not fired agents who investigators found attended “sex parties” with prostitutes paid with drug cartel money while they were on assignment in Colombia. 

Of the 50 employees the DEA’s Board of Professional Conduct recommended be fired following misconduct investigations opened since 2010, only 13 were actually terminated, the records show. And the drug agency was forced to take some of them back after a federal appeals board intervened.

In one case listed on an internal log, the review board recommended that an employee be fired for “distribution of drugs,” but a human resources official in charge of meting out discipline imposed a 14-day suspension instead. The log shows officials also opted not to fire employees who falsified official records, had an “improper association with a criminal element” or misused government vehicles, sometimes after drinking.

– From the USA Today article: DEA Agents Kept Jobs Despite Serious Misconduct

Nothing instills faith in American institutions like the increasingly obvious and oppressive two-tiered justice system. Forget punishment, this is a society so corrupt that the wealthiest and most connected players are actually rewarded for corruption, criminality and looting. The examples are endless, but no single act has been more blatant, perverse and destructive than the taxpayer bailout of Wall Street fraudsters in the 2008/09 period.

When the perpetrators are mere minions of the system as opposed to so-called “masters of the universe,” they have to settle for mere immunity from prosecution as opposed to trillions in taxpayer bailouts. No agency is more representative of this reality than the Drug Enforcement Agency, or DEA. Not only has the “war on drugs” been a barbaric, civil liberties destroying failure of epic proportions, but the agents themselves should actually be busting themselves for engaging in the exact behaviors they are purported warriors against.

Don’t believe me? Take the following examples from USA Today:

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

This is How the Clowns at the DEA Screen for Drug Dealers on Amtrak

by

Screen Shot 2015-05-17 at 7.19.24 PM

It’s been a rough couple of years for the DEA. We’ve heard about the agents who got caught having orgies with prostitutes, paid for by both drug cartels and the U.S. taxpayer. We’ve heard about the agents who wrongly locked up a California student and forgot about him for days, forcing him to drink his own urine for survival. Most recently, we heard about the DEA agent who robbed a man of his life’s savings via civil asset forfeiture as he travelled from Michigan to Los Angeles on Amtrak to start a music company.

Unsurprisingly, what happened to the man on Amtrak appears to be a regular occurrence, as DEA agents and Amtrak officials basically assume all human behavior to be deemed “suspicious.”

We learn from the Atlantic that:

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

DEA Agents Wrongly Jailed Student for 5 Days Without Food or Water Until He Had to Drink Own Urine; Nobody Fired

by

Screen Shot 2015-05-05 at 5.05.13 PM

Two years ago, I highlighted the case of Daniel Chong, a California student who was thrown in a holding cell and forgotten about for 5 days without food or water. His situation became so desperate, he was forced to drink his own urine in order to survive. The post was titled, Student Forgotten in California Jail Cell by the DEA for 5 Days Without Food or Water. Here’s an excerpt:

While a cash payout should be part of any sort of justice for Daniel, I wonder if any of the individuals responsible for this will be held accountable? That to me is the key point. Just as bankers simply pay a fine for egregious crimes that represent only a small part of their profit from the activity (but almost never face criminal charges), so too it seems the police and government bureaucrats almost never face serious repercussions for any their actions, no matter how heinous or unconstitutional. 

Well wonder no more. The jury is out, and all the DEA agents involved received a slap on the wrist. A few days of suspension without pay, but nobody fired. From the LA Times:

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.