NEW YORK (AP) — A former top Drug Enforcement Administration agent was charged Monday with embezzling $138,000 and using DEA employees in New York, Salt Lake City and Baltimore to benefit a private investigative firm.
Kevin M. Tamez, who was in charge of financial management at the DEA's New York division, allegedly obtained money for what he claimed was official business and instead spent it on credit card bills, a Chevy Suburban lease and repairs on his hot tub, prosecutors said.
"As Tamez well knew, these claims were false because the cash was not needed for official business but instead was kept by Tamez," the indictment said.
The indictment, which was unsealed Monday and includes 214 separate counts, also accused Tamez of illegally using DEA computers and agents to help a private investigative company he worked for to conduct background investigations, criminal history checks and surveillance.
The DEA's Salt Lake City office declined comment. A Washington, D.C., spokesman for the agency said no money was embezzled from the Salt Lake office, but agents there did apparently do some investigative work at Tamez's request.
"The agents thought the request was coming through normal DEA channels. To what extent (they investigated) I can't really say," DEA spokesman Will Glaspy told the Deseret Morning News Tuesday. "I think the terms that were used from the U.S. attorney was 'Tamez bamboozled them.' "
In a New York courtroom Monday, Tamez's lawyer, Peter Sheridan, portrayed him as a hero who "literally put his life on the line for the DEA" for 18 years, fighting drug dealers in South America and rising to the No. 3 position in the New York office. Tamez had hoped to resolve the case without charges, he said.
If convicted, Tamez, 50, of Mount Laurel, N.J., could get up to 20 years in prison on fraud charges and 10 years on embezzlement counts. He resigned in October. Tamez was arrested, and booked into jail, but as of Tuesday had been released on $50,000 bail, Glaspy said.
Sheridan declined to say if the $138,000 was returned.
Contributing: Jennifer Dobner, Deseret Morning News