Richard Dobrich is the Senior Executive Service Regional Director of DEA’s Andean Region (Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela) and a former Navy SEAL. He is scheduled to retire from DEA at the end of the month. The column is in response to an Associated Press story  that reported that DEA had received an anonymous complaint alleging Dobrich directed Colombian drivers working for the U.S. Embassy in Bogota “to procure sex workers.”

Richard Dobrich (DEA photo)

By Richard Dobrich
For ticklethewire.com

Don’t confuse my situation with the current upheaval in D.C. Mine is not a battle between Red versus Blue, nor He Said versus She Said, nor Accuser versus Accused.

Mine is a story of absurd and unfounded allegations, official leaks, a leadership vacuum, and tabloid press from a supposedly responsible news organization.

I find myself as the subject of a now-debunked anonymous and maliciously false letter which was sent to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

I was accused of engaging in the Colombian sex trade, i.e., soliciting prostitutes while serving as the DEA Regional Director. More specifically, the allegation stated that I directed my local staff to assist me in this despicable conduct.

I was not accused of this phantom behavior by anyone involved in the sex trade – no victims have accused me of any such abhorrent behavior – and let me be clear here, I fully recognize that the sex industry in Colombia has nothing but victims – usually young women with severe economic hardships or deplorable histories of sexual abuse at home during their adolescence.

DEA OPR and DOJ OIG routinely receive allegations of misconduct. The unimpeachable moral conduct of DEA personnel (all U.S. government personnel) form the pillars upon which the Public Trust is built and there is zero tolerance for non-compliance – this is something I have always strongly subscribed to.

Some allegations are confirmed as accurate while others are discredited – in either case there is supposed to be a firewall of confidentiality and neutrality so that DEA OPR and/or DOJ OIG investigators can do their important jobs, in relative secrecy, of uncovering the truth of what has, or has not, happened.

False And Anonymous Letter

In my case, a copy of the totally false and anonymous letter was provided to the Associated Press (AP). The AP didn’t get hearsay from someone “in the know”; no, the AP received an actual copy of the letter from “DEA Sources” (as told to me by the AP).

The AP told me they didn’t know the identity of the anonymous author – presumably the AP knows their “DEA Sources”. Therefore, one can deduce that the AP’s “DEA Sources” are somewhere between DEA Executive “Leadership” or within DEA OPR.

So that’s the scene-setter. The AP gets a hot lead on a scandalous story – “the Senior Executive Regional Director (me) who was sent to Colombia in 2015 in the wake of a sex trade scandal just couldn’t resist the temptation”.

The “story” would have you believe that DEA in Colombia (or maybe it’s just me) can’t behave responsibly and ethically. Let me be unequivocally clear – the AP’s sensational storylines are categorically false and the AP was provided clear FACTS before going to print but they just couldn’t resist their own temptation to sell “print”.

To me, there is nothing more cowardly and pathetic than someone who would author anonymous and patently false accusations, which attack the moral character of someone else without one shred of evidence, not one victim’s voice, nothing other than absolute fiction.

As if a false allegation isn’t enough, I am sickened by the prospect that a “DEA Source” would leak an uncorroborated and wildly unbelievable story to the media before it had been appropriately and properly investigated.

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

Motorola Solutions Foundation has donated $30,000 to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Survivors Benefit Fund (DEASBF), which provides educational and line-of-duty death benefits to the families of DEA’s fallen.

The Motorola foundation is a charitable arm of Motorola Solutions, Inc.

“The DEASBF is very appreciative for the generous donation by the Motorola Solutions Foundation and for providing vital assistance to the families of DEA’s fallen. Motorola Solutions Foundation has donated a future to the children of our fallen,” said DEASBF Chairman Richard Crock in a statement.

Currently, the DEASBF is funding the college education of 8 children who lost their fathers in the line of duty.

Motorola Solutions Foundation awards grants each year to organizations, such as the DEASBF, which support and advance public safety programs and technology and engineering education initiatives, a press release says.

To donate to the fun click here.

By Steve Neavling
Ticklethewire.com

The DEA is recommending an increase in the amount of marijuana grown for research while reducing the production of opioids.

The agency, which has long resisted research that could lead to the legalization of cannabis, wants to more than quintuple the amount of marijuana that can be grown for research, according to a DEA news release.

In an upcoming Federal Register filing, the amount of marijuana that could be produced for research would increase to about 5,400 pounds.

At the same time, the DEA wants to reduce the production of six types opioids by 10% over the next year.

It would be the third time the DEA has imposed limits on the amount of opioids made in the U.S.

By Steve Neavling
Ticklethewire.com

A former supervisory special agent for the DEA in Nogales, Ariz., faces up to five years in prison for illegally selling firearms, including to suspected drug traffickers.

Joseph Gill pleaded guilty Tuesday to illegally selling firearms, including two rifles to men “he had reason to believe intended to use or dispose of the firearms unlawfully, Tucson News Now reports.

Gill, who sold the guns without a Federal Firearms License, is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 26.

According to the Justice Department, Gill purchased firearms from licensed dealers and sold them online.

Investigators said Gill sold two Colt rifles in June 2016 to suspected drug dealers, according to an ATF investigation. Authorities said one rifle was smuggled into Mexico and another was seized at a port of authority.

Gill resigned from the DEA on June 30.

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

The DEA is concerned about dirty money.

More specifically, the agency is concerned that drug-laced cash seized in narcotics busts could seriously injure—even kill—its agents, the Daily Beast reports.

So, the DEA has has begun reaching out to potential industry partners about decontaminating confiscated currency, the website reports.

“Some of the substances on the currency may be extremely harmful to human health and potentially result in death,” says a DEA solicitation posted late last week on a U.S. government procurement portal.

“It is expected that most of the substances on the contaminated currency will be controlled substances including, but not limited to, narcotics (fentanyl, fentanyl analogues, heroin), cannabinoids (marijuana, THC, JWH compounds), stimulants (amphetamines, cathinones), hallucinogens (LSD, PCP, NBOMes), depressants (benzodiazepines, barbiturates),” the solicitation continues. “Precursor chemicals used to make these substances and other unknown harmful chemicals may also be present on the currency.”

Sen. Marco Rubio

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

Sen. Marco Rubio has joined the chorus of politicians calling for an investigation into the DEA’s Haiti office following allegations of potential whistle-blower retaliation and mishandling of personnel matters, the Miami Herald reports.

“Allegations of whistle-blower retaliation and personnel issues are extremely concerning and, if true, are counterproductive to the DEA’s critical mission in the Caribbean,” Rubio said in a letter his office sent on Wednesday to U.S. Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz.

In May, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy, a Republican from South Carolina, and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrat on the committee, wrote to Horowitz asking him to review the allegations. The committee, the letter said, had received information that raised questions about the effectiveness of the DEA’s drug investigations in Haiti, the Herald writes.

Robert Patterson

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

Having interim heads of major federal law enforcement agencies for too long often sends a message that the agency isn’t as important as some other agencies like the FBI.

Now comes Robert W. Patterson, acting head of  the DEA, who told staff Monday in an email that he is retiring in about two weeks, saying that running the agency as a temporary fill-in had become “increasingly challenging,” Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post reports.

Patterson said he “realized that the administrator of the DEA needs to decide and address priorities for years into the future — something which has become increasingly challenging in an acting capacity.”

A replacement has not been named.

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

Oklahomans will vote whether to legalize medical marijuana.

So, the head of Oklahoma’s DEA office, Richard Salter, is going around delivering a 45-minute presentation, saying people need to know the facts.  He says the bill is really about recreational use, not medical, News on 6 reports.

“I think Oklahoma will be the first state, if this passes, to have no qualifying medical condition. That means you go to the doctor and say, ‘Even though there’s nothing wrong with me, I’d like a medical marijuana card,’” Salter said.
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