Former DEA Agent who Conspired with Colombian Cartel Sentenced to 12 Years

Despite his attorney’s interesting defense that “when my client joined the DEA he was schooled in how to be corrupt” former agent Jose Irizarry has been sentenced. The former U.S. narcotics agent “used his badge to build a lavish lifestyle of expensive cars, parties on yachts and Tiffany jewels” reports NBC News.

Irizarry was sentenced to “more than 12 years in federal prison Thursday for conspiring to launder money with a Colombian cartel.” Irizarry admitted to his crimes, but the defense for his case was to blame his former colleagues at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

“When my client joined the DEA he was schooled in how to be corrupt, he was schooled in how to break the law” said his attorney Maria Dominguez in court. “In this alternate universe it became easier and less suspect to accept money and gifts” from criminal informants who worked with the narcotics agency.

In handing down her sentence Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Charlene Honeywell addressed any failings by the DEA for its handling of corrupt agents by “the allure of easy money.” She said it also needed to be investigated.

“This has to stop…you were the one who got caught but it is apparent to this court that there are others.” NBC News reports:

Irizarry’s allegations underscore the porous oversight he received during his career, in which he was entrusted with the government’s use of front companies, shell bank accounts and couriers to combat international drug trafficking.

They also raise new questions about whether his colleagues in the Miami field office, where Irizarry’s criminal activity began, similarly abused the badge in their handling of confidential informants who every year move tens of millions of dollars in dirty money under the DEA’s supervision.

Dominguez in court filings revealed that since Irizarry’s arrest last year he has met with prosecutors for “endless hours” to provide information on the criminal activities of “fellow law-enforcement agents who initiated him in a life of crime.”

Honeywell recently sealed “sensitive” documents filed in the criminal case, saying their disclosure could potentially impede an ongoing criminal investigation, cause targets to flee and hinder cooperation from other witnesses. So far, other than Irizarry’s wife, Nathalia Gomez-Irizarry, and a Colombian customs worker, nobody else has been charged in the conspiracy.