By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The unusual circumstances warranted this headline in the Providence Journal on Wednesday: “U.S. Prosecutors Left in the Cold on Drug Bust.” The paper reported that when state police and DEA agents in Providence, R.I., last week announced the seizure of 145 pounds of cocaine, $1.2 million in cash and the arrest…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Atty. Gen. Eric Holder Jr. has issued a memo calling for a temporary hiring freeze for all Justice Department employees at least until spring, saying the federal government is “facing unprecedented budget challenges”, ABC News reported. “I anticipate revisiting the Department’s hiring and staff situation in the spring, once we know…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com A 48-year-old administrative officer for the DEA has been indicted in Minneapolis for producing child pornography involving a 15-year-old boy. Scott James Whitcomb of Zimmerman, Minn., was indicted Thursday in federal court and charged with coercing a 15-year-old boy into engaging in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing pornography,…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Could big Congressional budget cuts spell doom for agencies like the FBI and DEA? Conservative Republicans on Thursday demanded dramatic cuts, the Washington Post reported. Specifically, members of the conservative Republican Study Committee said the GOP needs to keep a campaign pledge and immediately cut at least $100 billion from non-defense…
William Coonce worked for the DEA for 29 years and was special agent in charge of the Detroit Division from 1987 to 1993. By William Coonce For ticklethewire.com TUCSON — Subsequent to my retirement from the DEA in 1993, I was hired by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department in Tucson, Arizona to be the Deputy…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Washington last week tossed a lawsuit filed by DEA agent Lee Paige, who claimed the agency leaked an embarrassing video of him accidentally shooting himself with a Glock 40 while demonstrating gun safety to children in Orlando in 2004, the Associated Press reported. The video…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Joseph Evans, regional director for the DEA’s North and Central Americas Region in Mexico City, has been named ticklethewire.com’s Fed Of The Year for 2010. Faced with one of the more daunting tasks in the DEA — battling the violent Mexican Drug Cartels — Evans is credited with developing key partnerships…
By The Chicago Tribune Editorial Jack Riley left El Paso, Texas, to become the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s top man in Chicago. Even though he’s 1,500 miles from the border now, Mexico’s war against drug cartels still matters to him. It should matter to all of us. More than 90 percent of the marijuana, cocaine…
