Pubdate: Wed, 06 May 2015
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2015 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Author: Timothy M. Phelps, Tribune Washington Bureau

OFFICIALS DEMAND MORE ACCOUNTABILITY AT DEA

Light Punishment for Negligent Agents Spurs Call for Reform

WASHINGTON - Obama administration officials and lawmakers are calling 
for greater accountability and tougher disciplinary procedures at the 
Drug Enforcement Administration after the agency only lightly 
punished agents who nearly killed a 23-yearold San Diego man by 
forgetting him in a holding cell for five days with no food or water.

Daniel Chong, a University of California at San Diego student, was 
detained in 2012 for what he was told would be five minutes after he 
was swept up in a drug bust at a friend's house, where he had been 
smoking marijuana. Agents forgot about him, forcing Chong to drink 
his own urine to stave off dehydration until he was discovered 
delirious and suffering from severe breathing problems, according to 
a Justice Department Office of Inspector General report last summer.

After an internal DEA review concluded in March, the six DEA agents 
involved received only reprimands and short suspensions, spurring the 
Justice Department to demand reforms to prevent such mistakes from reoccurring.

In an April 28 letter to members of Congress obtained by Tribune 
Newspapers, the Justice Department said what happened to Chong was 
"unacceptable" and that "the DEA's failure to impose significant 
discipline on these employees further demonstrates the need for a 
systemic review of DEA's disciplinary process."

The DEA is already under fire for its handling of a scandal in which 
agents admitted to hiring prostitutes in Colombia. Complaints over 
her failure to adequately punish the agents involved in the Colombia 
case led to the early retirement last month of DEA Administrator 
Michele Leonhart.

The incident over Chong is likely to weigh in the search for her 
replacement. Administration officials said they would search for a 
top administer who could beef up the DEA's internal disciplinary 
procedures and create a culture that will hold agents more 
accountable for their actions.

At the same time, several members of Congress - also concerned over 
the handling of the Chong case - have indicated they will move to 
give the next administrator more authority over civil service 
disciplinary rules, which agency officials blamed for the light 
punishment in both cases.

After he was found, Chong was hospitalized for four days. He and his 
lawyers said at a news conference last summer that he underwent 
intensive therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder. The department 
paid Chong a $4.1 million settlement.

Last month, the DEA's Board of Professional Conduct issued four 
reprimands to DEA agents involved in the incident and a five-day 
suspension without pay to another. The supervisor in charge at the 
time was given a seven-day suspension.

Gene Iredale, a San Diego lawyer who represents Chong, said the 
punishments were insufficient.

Rusty Payne, a DEA spokesman, said a Department of Justice Inspector 
General's investigation into the incident was referred to DEA's Board 
of Professional Conduct, which recommended the punishments to a top 
independent official. Under current civil service regulations, the 
DEA administrator is not permitted to intervene in disciplinary matters.

But Payne said that the institutional problems that led to Chong 
being forgotten in his cell have already been fixed.

"It was a terrible tragic mistake and one we have learned from and we 
are going to make sure it doesn't happen again," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom