DEA Agent Arrested on Gun, Drug Trafficking Charges

A Drug Enforcement Administration agent was recently arrested for allegedly participating in a narcotics conspiracy and for providing firearms to drug trafficking organizations for 10 years, having purposely joined the agency to help his criminal pals.

The U.S. Attorney's office, along with several federal agencies, announced the unsealing of an indictment charging DEA agent Fernando Gomez, 41, of Chicago, for his "participation in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine, his possession of firearms, and aiding and abetting the possession of firearms, in furtherance of that drug conspiracy," according to this release.

The charges allege that Gomez was actually a mole who specifically joined the DEA to help his criminal partners and their drug trafficking business.

"Fernando Gomez is a special agent of the DEA, an organization committed to upholding the nation's drug laws and relentless in its pursuit of narcotics traffickers," said U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Herman in the release. "But as alleged, Gomez joined the DEA to betray those laws, and to help narcotics traffickers evade detection by law enforcement. He will now be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Gomez was arrested in Chicago on Dec. 11 without incident. The release says Gomez allegedly "obtained firearms from drug dealers, transported them to Puerto Rico, and provided those guns to Jose Martinez-Diaz (aka Tony Zinc), who is also charged in the indictment. Gomez then joined the DEA so he could help members of the narcotics conspiracy evade prosecution."

Martinez-Diaz has an ugly criminal past, having previously been charged for participating in La Organization de Narcotraficantes Unidos (La ONU), a racketeering enterprise dealing in drugs and murder.

Specifically, Gomez has been charged with one count of participating in a narcotics conspiracy involving the distribution of five kilograms or more of cocaine, and one count of using and carrying firearms during and in relation to the narcotics conspiracy, possessing firearms in furtherance of the narcotics conspiracy, and aiding and abetting and the possession of firearms, some of which were brandished and discharged.

He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison, which will be determined by a judge if he his convicted.

The case is being handled by the Violent and Organized Crime Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.