By Steve Neavling
A former DEA and Health and Human Services special agent was found guilty Monday on charges related to protecting a convicted drug dealer from getting caught by FBI agents.
Alberico Crespo, 48, cried uncontrollably as the jury found him guilty of conspiring to commit witness tampering and three related charges, The Miami Herald reports.
But the jury found Cresop not guilty of the main charge – conspiring to distribute Oxycodone.
Crespo was an HHS special agent who worked on a healthcare strike force with other HHS and FBI agents over the past decade when he tipped off the target of a federal probe of a painkiller-distribution ring, Jorge Diaz Gutierrez. Crespo also was accused of coaching Diaz on what to tell an FBI agent if he was interviewed.
The two men were close, and Diaz rented an apartment at Crespo’s home in Hialeah.
Each charge Crespo was convicted on carries up to 20 years in prison.
The sentencing guidelines call for eight to 10 years behind bars.
Crespo will remain free of jail until he is sentenced on Nov. 28 before U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles.
