US drug enforcement agent indicted in Ohio

Posted 5/13/2009 6:45 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print
By M.R. Kropko, Associated Press Writer
CLEVELAND — A federal drug enforcement agent pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a federal indictment that accuses him of framing 17 people in controlled drug buys made by an informant.

Lee Michael Lucas, 41, of Cleveland appeared before U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver on the 18-count indictment that includes counts of obstruction of justice, making false statements in official reports, perjury and violating civil rights.

He was given a Jan. 6 trial date and released on a personal bond. His lawyer, Thomas Roth, did not immediately return a telephone message. The prosecutor said Lucas was on administrative leave from the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Lucas allegedly used an informant for the DEA during September through November 2005 to make 13 controlled buys of cocaine in Mansfield, then put false information in his reports about the transactions.

The informant, Jerrell Bray, 36, formerly of Mansfield and Cleveland, pleaded guilty in 2007 to five counts of violating civil rights and two counts of perjury. The judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison.

Charges eventually were dropped against those wrongly accused as a result of the controlled buys, said U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan at Pittsburgh, Pa., a special prosecutor in the case. Before then, one person was convicted and served about 16 months of a 10-year sentence; some served pretrial detention or no time in jail, she said.

Buchanan said an arrest warrant was issued for Lucas on Tuesday evening and he appeared Wednesday with his lawyer to turn himself in. She wouldn't comment on a possible motive for the crimes.

Buchanan said the evidence includes the misidentification of a person who had provided drugs to the informant and recorded conversations that were scripted or prearranged.

The prosecutor said she was appointed by the Justice Department to avoid an appearance of the conflict of interest among her counterpart in Ohio. She said the case should not hurt the credibility of other DEA cases.

"This is an unusual set of circumstances. This incident is not consistent with the general practice of investigators," she said.