Pubdate: Sun, 27 Jul 2003 Source: New York Post (NY) Contact: 2003 N.Y.P. Holdings, Inc. Website: http://www.nypost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/296 Author: William J. Gorta, Murray Weiss Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States) Note: Additional reporting by Joe McGurk PROBERS EYE TOP DEA MAN OVER 150G THEFT A top official in the Drug Enforcement Administration's New York office is under investigation over allegations that he stole $150,000 from the agency, The Post has learned. Kevin Tamez, 49, the No. 3 DEA man in the city, is a former internal-affairs investigator who allegedly used his rank and knowledge of the system to pull his scam, sources said. He was suspended in March. Internal investigators and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan have spent months trying to unravel Tamez's trail. "It's a paper case," said one DEA source. "There's so much evidence." Tamez, an associate special agent in charge, sent rookie agents to the agency's cashier with a form - called a "12" in DEA parlance - requesting between $1,000 and $3,000 for investigative purposes. The agent would then turn the cash over to Tamez, who would later file an SF1134, a form verifying the money had been spent on law-enforcement business, sources said. Tamez apparently used the money to pay his bills, the source said. He pulled the stunt around 80 times over 21/2 years before an agent balked at the unorthodox arrangement, sources said. Cash is normally doled out to an agent with his boss' approval for things like renting space or other investigative needs. The requisition must be countersigned by the agent's own boss. When the agent who objected notified his own supervisor, the boss took a look into the allegation and "things did not add up," the source said. The agent's boss notified the DEA's Office of Professional Responsibility and the Inspector General in the Justice Department. "I'm on suspension without pay," Tamez said last night at his Mount Laurel, N.J., home. "I haven't been charged with anything." Tamez said he's hired a lawyer, and that the matter is being handled "within my agency. It's being looked at." Tamez also is under investigati on on suspicion of using DEA agents to handle his personal business, the source said. While investigators expect to wrap up their case within a month, other agents are growing impatient waiting since March for an arrest, especially given Tamez's reputation as a hard-nosed boss. "What makes this so crazy is that Tamez was an inspector in the Office of Professional Responsibility [in Newark]. He went out of his way to jam people up," said a second DEA source, who called Tamez's approach to supervision as "rule by terror." The first source said Tamez was a "very aggressive" internal investigator who "came on too strong." - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk