A New Orleans narcotics agent nicknamed the “white devil” among drug traffickers was sentenced to a little over ten years in prison for his role in various crimes, including stealing money from suspects and falsifying government records.
According to a news release from the Department of Justice, on Thursday, Aug. 12, a five-year case came to a close after longtime U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Chad A. Scott was sentenced to 13 years behind bars.
Scott was initially convicted and found guilty in August 2019 for crimes including falsifying paperwork to steal a truck from a trafficker and committing, and directing others to commit perjury against an alleged Houston-based heroin and cocaine trafficker, lies that tainted a conviction and ultimately led to the unidentified man’s release.
In June of this year he was convicted on two counts of stealing property from suspects as prosecutors pointed at trial to evidence of unreturned wallets and cellphones found in his desk.
U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo said Scott caused “far-reaching” damage “to the administration of justice” — prosecutors were seeking nearly two decades for the disgraced law enforcement officer. They further stated that Scott “broke every rule in the book” to enforce his “own approximation of justice.”
“He undercut law enforcement, and he disgraced the entire judicial process,” federal prosecutor Timothy Duree told the initial jury that convicted the Louisiana man. “He was sworn to uphold the law, but instead, he broke it for his own selfish purposes.”
DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in the DOJ news release that, “Chad Scott took an oath to serve his community with integrity, but rather than use his badge to protect his community, he used it to break the law. He goes against everything that the Drug Enforcement Administration stands for.” Milgram added, “Scott betrayed the very people he was entrusted to protect, and today he is being held accountable for his crimes.”
The nearly 17-year veteran’s charges include falsifying government documents mentioned above, committing perjury during a federal trial, and planting drugs on suspects. Furthermore, the 53-year-old, along with a former member of his task force, Rodney Gemar, were convicted in what prosecutors described as a long-running scheme to steal money and property from suspects.
Two other former members of the task force, Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s deputies Johnny Domingue and Karl E. Newman pleaded guilty to similar charges in separate cases and testified against Scott in 2019 in exchange for leniency. Domingue and then Newman were arrested weeks apart in 2016 and subsequently pleaded guilty to stealing drugs and money from suspects as they agreed to implicate as the ringleader of rogue task force. Domingue was arrested against last year on charges of trying to smuggle eight kilos of cocaine.
WWLTV reported that Scott’s case is one of many in a growing list of DEA agents who have been accused of wrongfully using their authority in recent years.
