Pubdate: Wed, 30 Jul 2014
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Page: A-1
Copyright: 2014 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.utsandiego.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Author: Jeff McDonald

REPORT: DEA KNEW OF CELL PROBLEMS BEFORE MAN'S DETENTION

Long before college student Daniel Chong nearly died after being left
in a holding cell without food or water for five days in 2012, federal
drug officials in San Diego knew their detention practices were deficient.

According to the Inspector General's Office of the U.S. Department of
Justice, which just concluded a two-year probe into what happened to
Chong, managers in the Drug Enforcement Administration's San Diego
field division were warned about the problems but had not corrected
them.

The department released the full report to U-T San Diego, which
requested the document under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act this
month.

Federal officials had released a three-page summary of the report on
July 8, but withheld the completed document at that time.

The abridged report revealed that four different agents had some
contact with Chong during his five-day ordeal, but each assumed
someone else was monitoring the detention. It also showed the DEA
violated its own policies by failing to immediately inform the
Inspector General's Office of possible misconduct and by assigning
some of the officers involved to investigate.

At 19 pages of mostly single-spaced type, the more-complete report
includes many previously unreleased details in the Chong case,
although the names of the agents are blacked out.

The Inspector General interviewed 57 people and toured the
second-floor holding area. Investigators also tested how much they
could hear from someone inside Cell 217 who was yelling and screaming.

The top DEA official "was aware of the suggested improvements, agreed
with them, and had started the process of implementing them before the
Chong incident occurred," the report states. "He said that if the
changes had been implemented, Chong's improper detention could have
been prevented."

Among the improvements that could have helped were cameras inside the
holding cells and a log system detailing who was in custody and who
had been released, the full report said.

Ten days before Chong was detained, Acting Special Agent in Charge
William Sherman approved a previously filed request for closed-circuit
cameras and a white board to track detainees, the report added. The
request was not fulfilled at the time of Chong's detention.

Sherman was absolved of any responsibility in the incident because he
was away at the time. He has since been promoted to Special Agent in
Charge.

The findings are the latest twists in an eye-popping combination of
events that landed Chong in an intensive care unit and prompted the
federal government last year to pay him $4.1 million.

The University of California San Diego engineering student was caught
up in an April 21, 2012, drug sweep at an apartment in University
City, where he had spent the night after an evening partying with friends.

Chong didn't know it at the time, but the apartment was the subject of
a federal drug investigation.

He and eight others were detained after agents executed a search
warrant. Chong was told he would be released without charges the same
day but was instead was left in a 5-by-10-foot cell with no food or
water for five days.

During that time, Chong drank his own urine to survive, tried
unsuccessfully to kill himself and ingested methamphetamine left
inside the cell.

"He also said he began to hallucinate, seeing what he referred to as
gases and shadows in his cell," investigators wrote.

In 2012, the San Diego DEA took the rare step of issuing Chong a
public apology. The office on Tuesday issued a statement saying it
remains troubled by the incident and has instituted reforms such as an
occupancy ledger for its holding cells.

Attorney Eugene Iredale, who negotiated the $4.1 million settlement
including promises of department-wide reforms, said he was grateful
that the Department of Justice released the complete report.

"The one thing that is still of concern is the failure of anyone to
come forward and take responsibility for leaving him in the cell,"
Iredale said.

Another issue still bothering Iredale is the fact that none of the
agents admitted to handcuffing Chong when he was returned to the
holding cell even though agents told him he would be let go without
charges.

"It's a little bit of somebody not wanting to admit a mistake," the
attorney said.

Investigators also found there was no method for tracking detainees in
custody. One interviewee told investigators he "was keeping a mental
tally of how many people had been arrested or detained."

Chong told investigators that during what he thought was his fourth
day in detention, as he yelled and screamed to be let loose, he heard
an agent say something like: "Since this guy is making so much noise,
let's turn the light off."

The complete report is dated June 5, five weeks before the Inspector
General's Office issued the three-page summary.

It concludes with a notation that the U.S. Attorney's Office declined
to file criminal charges against any of the agents involved in the
Chong matter because there was insufficient evidence.

The final three lines are redacted from public view. 
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