Puerto Rican DEA agent sentenced to 12 years in prison for conspiring with Colombian drug cartel

A former Drug Enforcement Administration agent from Puerto Rico, José Irizarry, was sentenced to 145 months in federal prison on Thursday for operating a money laundering and fraud scheme in conjunction with a Colombian drug cartel.  

Court documents show that Irizarry, while still an agent of the DEA, opened a bank account using a stolen identity and then used the account to receive the diverted money, the New York Daily News reported.

Irizarry and his wife Nathalia Gomez-Irizarry pleaded guilty in Sept. 2020 of participating in the seven-year scheme that diverted approximately $9 million from undercover money-laundering investigations, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Gomez-Irizarry was sentenced to 60 months of probation last year for one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Irizarry and his wife received at least $1 million in the scheme, while the former agent was assigned to the DEA’s Miami Field Division and to its office in Cartagena, Colombia.

The scheme allowed the couple to purchase luxury sports cars, a $30,000 diamond ring, a $767,000 home in Cartagena, as well as residences in Florida and Puerto Rico.

“Irizarry betrayed his oath to serve and instead used his position to further the criminal activities of a violent drug cartel while enriching himself,” Brian Payne, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation, said in a statement. “While his actions represent an egregious breach of the public trust, they are in no way a reflection of the overwhelming majority of special agents who serve with honor and integrity.”

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the DOJ’s Criminal Division added that the department “has zero tolerance for abuse of public office and is committed to ferreting out and prosecuting corruption wherever found, especially among the ranks of law enforcement.”

Irizarry admitted to the crimes, but also referenced a “culture of corruption” within the DEA as the catalyst for his crimes.

“When my client joined the DEA he was schooled in how to be corrupt, he was schooled in how to break the law,” his attorney, María Dominguez, told the court.

U.S. District Judge Charlene Honeywell ordered Irizarry to pay $11,233 in restitution and forfeit the luxury items he purchased with the embezzled funds.

Irizarry tearfully addressed the court during his sentencing on Thursday.

“Unfortunately, there came a time when I made a decision that went against the person who I was, that damaged my wife and embarrassed my country,” he said. “I should’ve known better and I didn’t. I failed.”

Shortly after sentencing, he was remanded into the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.