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A Homeland Security agent has been charged for allegedly selling illicit drugs taken from seized evidence.
Nicholas Kindle, a special agent in Utah assigned to investigate illegal narcotics trafficking, is the second Homeland Security agent arrested for the alleged scheme.
Kindle was arrested three weeks after his alleged co-conspirator, special agent David Cole.
According to The Epoch Times, both men face “felony drug distribution conspiracy charges.”
Kindle also faces a charge of “conspiracy to convert U.S. government property for profit.”
Homeland Security Agents Charged With Selling Illegal Drugs Seized As Evidence https://t.co/MqOsfIXg1s
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 4, 2025
Per The Epoch Times:
Kindle was formally charged in an information document filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which does not require grand jury approval to initiate criminal proceedings. Court records indicate that he has not yet been assigned an attorney.
A magistrate judge on Jan. 3 set Kindle’s initial court appearance for Jan. 21 in Salt Lake City. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.
Cole was indicted by a grand jury on Dec. 18 and has pleaded not guilty to his drug distribution conspiracy charge. He is due to stand trial the week of Feb. 24 and faces a maximum of 20 years if convicted.
“The FBI has arrested a SLC Homeland Security agent. David Cole is charged with dealing bath salts. There is another suspect in this case who is currently only being identified as PERSON A,” FOX 13 News Utah reporter Adam Herbets previously said.
BREAKING – The FBI has arrested a SLC Homeland Security agent.
David Cole is charged with dealing bath salts.
There is another suspect in this case who is currently only being identified as PERSON A. pic.twitter.com/yFyxb6l9pc
— Adam Herbets, FOX 13 🏔️ (@AdamHerbets) December 10, 2024
Second Homeland Security agent charged with selling seized synthetic drugs https://t.co/SlGUNDq1i9 via @upi
— Steven Ford (@smfordo) January 3, 2025
From the Associated Press:
Federal prosecutors say Kindle and Cole abused their positions to acquire illegal drugs known as “bath salts” from Homeland Security evidence and from other law enforcement personnel, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, under the false pretense that they would use them for legitimate investigations.
Prosecutors say Kindle and Cole began stealing drugs from evidence and lying to fellow agents about their purpose in 2021. They are also alleged to have stolen thousands of dollars in cash, a diamond ring and a Peruvian antiquity from evidence.
From 2022 to 2024, the agents allegedly sold the drugs to a person identified in court documents only as a “source of information” for the department, prosecutors. They let that person resell the drugs and did not arrest the customers, according to charging documents.
The FBI says the scheme brought in between $195,000 and $300,000.
The agents later are said to have compelled a confidential informant recruited to conduct controlled buys from suspected dealers after his release from prison to become the new middleman.
Kindle and Cole used an encrypted messaging app to give the informant meeting locations, which ranged from a Panera Bread restaurant to a Nike store, according to an FBI affidavit.
The FBI began investigating in October 2024 after the informant’s lawyer contacted the U.S. Attorney in Utah to report that Kindle and Cole had required him to engage in potentially unlawful acts, according to the affidavit. Investigators began tracking them and recorded eight transactions in which drugs were illegally sold to the informant.