DEA Scandal Began With $16,000 Theft, Jury Told
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A federal prosecutor said in a Los Angeles courtroom Thursday that a Drug Enforcement Administration corruption scandal began with the theft of $16,000 in drug cash in October, 1982, leading to narcotics trafficking charges being filed against three agents.
From that point, Asst. U.S. Atty. Stefan D. Stein said, the agents engaged “in a spree of corruption” that led to a federal grand jury indictment two years ago charging them, among other things, with stealing drugs from the DEA’s evidence vault in Los Angeles.
Two of the agents have pleaded guilty. The trial of the third agent, Darnell Garcia, 43, of Rancho Palos Verdes, is set to begin Tuesday.
Jury selection was completed Thursday and Stein’s co-prosecutor, Asst. U.S. Atty. Joyce Karlin, said she expects the trial to last about two months. As he was leaving the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr., Garcia was asked by a reporter if he was confident of acquittal. “Yeah, a lot,” he said.
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