3 Ex-Agents Probed in Drug Thefts : 5 Pounds of Heroin Missing From DEA Office Vault in L.A.

Federal prosecutors are investigating the suspected theft of more than five pounds of Asian heroin with a street value of $7.5 million from the custody of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Los Angeles, The Times has learned.

The investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles into two separate suspected thefts of heroin is part of a continuing investigation into a corruption scandal that includes allegations that former DEA agents were also trafficking in cocaine.

Three former DEA agents, John Anthony Jackson, Darnell Garcia and Wayne Countryman, were indicted Dec. 7 on conspiracy and tax charges, and prosecutors said additional charges of cocaine trafficking and obstruction of justice may be filed in the case next month.

Mysterious Disappearance

According to sources close to the investigation, Jackson has also been linked by federal prosecutors to the mysterious 1984 disappearance of 2 1/2 pounds of heroin from the evidence vault in the DEA’s Los Angeles office.

The same sources said Jackson also took part in a 1985 heroin investigation in which almost three pounds of Asian heroin allegedly disappeared. In that incident, the DEA agents paid for 15 pounds of heroin, but only about 12 pounds were turned in as evidence.

The agent in charge of the DEA’s Los Angeles office since 1987, John Zienter, acknowledged that some heroin disappeared from the office in the mid-1980s, but would not provide any details. “There was heroin that disappeared,” he said. “It’s gone.”

The two suspected heroin thefts, never previously disclosed by DEA officials, could lead to additional charges of theft of government property against Jackson, federal officials said.

However, defense lawyers familiar with the investigation questioned whether there is any validity to the current inquiry into the missing heroin, dismissing Jackson’s alleged link to the two cases as purely circumstantial.

Jackson, in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles while awaiting arraignment, declined a request to be interviewed about the two incidents.

In court documents, prosecutors have accused the three former agents of cocaine trafficking and ties to major Los Angeles drug dealers. But the only charges filed so far against the ex-agents involve an alleged plot to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and making false statements on currency reports.

The three former agents are accused of laundering more than $608,000 into Swiss banks. Of the total, Garcia allegedly laundered more than $387,000, Jackson more than $189,000 and Countryman $31,000. Complicating the decision on what additional charges to file in the coming month, if any, is the fact that Garcia, who has alleged links to major narcotics dealers, disappeared eight hours before federal agents planned to arrest him and remains a fugitive.

While sources close to the investigation said they saw no danger to potential witnesses in discussing the general scope of alleged drug involvement, they said that some specific drug charges might be withheld until Garcia’s apprehension.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Joyce Karlin, who is heading the case, described both Garcia and Jackson as dangerous at a Nov. 22 detention hearing for Jackson, who was ordered held without bail.

“If ever there was a case in which witness tampering and obstruction of justice are likely, this is it,” Karlin said. “Garcia and Jackson have everything to lose if witnesses are available to testify truthfully. . . . (They) are a danger to the community and pose a risk to prospective witnesses.”

Missing From Evidence Vault

The first disappearance of heroin allegedly involving Jackson took place sometime between Oct. 2 and Oct. 9, 1984, sources told The Times. Officials said the heroin, seized from a Los Angeles drug dealer, was checked into the evidence vault by Jackson, who also reported it missing.

As the agent who had the last official contact with the heroin, according to federal sources, Jackson was one of the suspects in the apparent theft. An investigation by the DEA, however, led only to the dismissal of a civilian employee assigned to guard evidence.

“The DEA’s position was there was no hard evidence. No witnesses,” one official said. “Perhaps it could be attributed to sloppy housekeeping. So, for the time, the investigation stopped there.”

The second suspected heroin theft under investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office took place four months later when Jackson joined an arrest squad led by DEA agents from Detroit on an investigation into Thai heroin.

According to sources close to the investigation, the DEA negotiated and paid for 15 pounds of heroin in an undercover operation on Jan. 30, 1985, involving a Thai heroin ring.

An Unusual Offer

In an unusual offer for such a large exchange of heroin, two young Thai drug dealers--subsequently convicted in the case--allegedly offered to weigh the heroin on the spot with a scale they had brought with them. The offer was declined.

Instead, according to government officials, the drug dealers were arrested and the heroin was seized to be weighed at the DEA’s office in the World Trade Center in downtown Los Angeles. One investigative source said Jackson was given two briefcases and a large white bag containing the heroin in odd-sized packages.

DEA policy, officials said, calls for two agents to handle confiscated drugs. In a major departure from DEA procedures, however, Jackson drove to the DEA office by himself with the heroin in his car, followed by agents in three cars, The Times was told.

“That’s unbelievable,” one senior Los Angeles drug agent said. “It’s like driving around with $50 million in the trunk of your car. Most agents wouldn’t do it. They would ask for two or three agents to go with them.”

Weighed Drugs by Himself

At the DEA’s offices, officials said, the confiscated heroin was weighed by Jackson while other agents in the arresting squad were busy with other duties.

“Jackson took the dope from the arrestees to the DEA by himself,” one official said. “He weighed the dope by himself, reporting that there was only about 12 pounds.”

It is not uncommon for drug dealers to attempt to cheat their customers, investigators said. But, they added, the circumstances of the 1985 incident were significantly different from most such attempts.

“First, it would be very dangerous for two relatively inexperienced Thais to rip off people who knew where to find them,” one investigator said. “Second, they offered to weigh it. Third, they maintained that they had sold 15 pounds even after they pleaded guilty.”

Despite the large amount of heroin involved in the two incidents, sources said the two suspected heroin thefts are viewed as “incidental” in the overall conspiracy charged against Jackson, Garcia and Countryman.

Although Jackson was involved in both heroin investigations, officials said neither of the suspected thefts triggered the DEA investigation that led to the indictments and the continuing investigation. Sources said one early accusation involved an allegation linking Jackson to the sale of cocaine.

‘Major Significance’

“It was something else (apart from the heroin incidents) of major significance which we cannot reveal at this time,” one official said. “This investigation actually started in late 1985 and got to the U.S. attorney’s office in early 1986.”

Jackson, 39, of Claremont was a DEA agent from 1972 until Sept. 30, 1987, when he resigned after a period of extended leave on a stress claim. Garcia, 42, of Rancho Palos Verdes was an agent from 1978 until Sept. 25, 1987, when he also resigned. Countryman, 45, of Walnut had been granted a disability retirement in 1986 as a result of a back injury.

According to court records, the investigation began with a DEA probe into alleged drug dealing by Jackson. By early 1987, Internal Revenue Service investigators had joined the inquiry, which was expanded in the summer of 1987 to Garcia and Countryman.

Besides the current tax and conspiracy charges against the three, a perjury charge has been filed against Garcia’s girlfriend, Maria Angie Zuniga, 33, who allegedly lied to a grand jury by saying that she had no knowledge of bank accounts held by Garcia outside the United States.

Decision Not Made

Attorneys who have represented Garcia and Jackson in the past generally declined public comment on the case but indicated that the two have not yet made a final decision on who will represent them.

Los Angeles lawyer Cornell Price, representing Countryman, also declined comment except to say that his client is not guilty and plans to fight the allegations.

Countryman has been described by federal officials as the least culpable member of the group, and prosecutors reportedly are considering seeking his cooperation as a potential witness in the case.

The last drug case against a DEA agent in Los Angeles was five years ago, when George Hoelker was convicted in a conspiracy to sell about five pounds of cocaine.

U.S. Atty. Robert C. Bonner called the current investigation “the most significant corruption case involving DEA agents in Southern California, and, I believe, in the country,” because it involves an alleged conspiracy by three agents rather than an agent acting alone.

The DEA’s chief public affairs spokesman in Washington, Bill Alden, said it is too early to compare the case to others in DEA history.

“I don’t know how big it is. We won’t know that until adjudication,” Alden said.