FORMER DEA SPECIAL AGENT SENTENCED TO PRISON

Former Dea Los Angeles Special Agent Receives Prison Sentence
For Selling Sensitive Law Enforcement Computer Information

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Emilio Calatayud, 36, a former Special Agent with the Los Angeles Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), was sentenced yesterday by the Honorable William J. Rea, Senior U.S. District Judge, to a term of 27 months in prison and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine. Calatayud, who was a DEA Special Agent for 14 years, pleaded guilty on Aug. 5, 2002 to bribery, tax, and failure to appear for trial charges.

As a DEA Special Agent, Calatayud had access to various protected law enforcement computers and databases containing a variety of non-public and sensitive information. Between 1993 and 1999, Calatayud misused this equipment to conduct numerous interstate searches of protected law enforcement computer systems and databases, searching for sensitive criminal history and law enforcement information about individuals being investigated by a Los Angeles private investigations firm. In exchange for conducting the unauthorized searches, Calatayud received at least $22,500 in secret payments from the private investigations firm.

Calatayud was initially charged with wire fraud, bribery, and failure to report income. The defendant's trial was set to begin in Los Angeles, Calif., on Feb. 5, 2002 but he fled to Mexico. Calatuyad was subsequently charged in a superceding indictment with failure to appear for trial. He was eventually apprehended by Mexican authorities on June 6, 2002 and deported back to the United States.

The prosecution was handled jointly by the United States Attorney's Office, Central District of California, and the Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice. The case was the product of an extensive investigation conducted by the DEA's Office of Professional Responsibility in Washington, D.C. and the Los Angeles offices of the Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the United States Secret Service. The United States Marshal's Service assisted in locating Calatayud in Mexico.

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