07-09-2015, 01:59 PM
Prosecutors will urge a federal judge on
Thursday to send a former FBI agent to prison
for seven to nine years for stealing heroin from criminal investigations to feed his own
addiction.
The U.S. attorney’s office in the District said
Matthew Lowry, who worked in the Washington field office investigating narcotics traffickers, ruined drug cases and forced authorities to dismiss charges against 28 people, many of whom had been convicted and were serving time in federal prison.
Lowry’s attorney is pressing the judge to allow
the former agent to serve his time on home
detention, stressing that his client, 33, was
motivated not by “greed†or “malice†but by an
addiction that began with prescription
painkillers he took for an intestinal inflammation. But prosecutors said that Lowry
not only stole during a 14-month period, he also carefully covered up his crimes.
“Whatever can be said of the defendant’s
decision to self-medicate, what is both
indefensible and inexcusable is the fact that the defendant decided to supply himself with heroin by stealing it from FBI custody,†Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin R. Brenner wrote in a sentencing memorandum that uses unusually direct language to counter Lowry’s argument that he should be treated as an addict, not a criminal.
This was “a premeditated and systematic
cover-up, perpetrated by an FBI agent, as an
FBI agent,†Brenner wrote. “The defendant
manipulated and abused his official duties both
to steal the heroin and then hide his tampering.
Regardless of whether the thefts may be attributable to the defendant’s dependency, the cover-up was hardly the product of artificially or temporarily clouded judgment.â€
On March 31, Lowry pleaded guilty to 64
criminal charges, including obstruction of justice, tampering with evidence and heroin
possession.
He was caught at the end of September when fellow agents found him incoherent outside his agency car, which had run out of gas in a lot near the Navy Yard in Southeast Washington.
Agents later found drugs in open evidence bags in the car. Lowry had taken advantage of lax evidence rules at the Washington field office that enabled him to sign out drugs for lab testing and then keep the packages in his car for months without anyone questioning him.
After taking heroin, Lowry added filler to the
bags so their weight would not be different
when he returned them, and he forged
colleagues’ signatures on sign-out sheets.
In an interview last month, Lowry, who is
married and has a 16-month-old son, described
his long battle with colitis. He said that one
doctor prescribed pain medication and that he
soon became addicted. After that doctor
disappeared, he had no way to get new prescriptions and, in withdrawal, turned to
heroin.
Defense attorney Robert C. Bonsib filed
voluminous letters of support from Lowry’s
father, a retired assistant police chief in Anne
Arundel County, as well as Lowry’s mother, his
wife, brothers, pastor and friends, and Bonsib is pleading with the judge to deviate from sentencing guidelines and put Lowry on
extended home detention instead of sending
him to prison.
He noted that Lowry stole drugs to feed a
personal addiction, not as part of a scheme
hatched out of “greed, malice, kickbacks, pay-
offs [or] selling or distributing drugs to others.â€
Even as Lowry stole drugs, Bonsib wrote, “he
did not bribe other people to cover up his mistakes, and he never stopped enforcing the
law on others.†Bonsib also says in his sentencing memorandum that Lowry, once caught, immediately confessed, began treatment and walked prosecutors through his thefts step by step so they could assess the damage to criminal cases.
The former agent has talked about his addiction publicly in hopes of serving
as a warning to others, his lawyer said.
Bonsib called the drug thefts a small slice of his client’s otherwise law-abiding life: “This is an extraordinary case, involving an incredible
young man, whose intentions were honorable,
whose conditions were demanding, whose
mistakes were serious, but whose potential is limitless.â€
Brenner countered in his memorandum that
Lowry did not seek help or turn himself in until
he was caught. “The defendant stood silent,†the prosecutor wrote, “even as numerous cases impacted by his misconduct were proceeding and one defendant after another was entering a guilty plea. Concerned primarily with himself, the defendant, in lieu of serving the interests of justice, actively and purposefully sought to obstruct it.â€
Citing one large-scale drug investigation,
Brenner said that while colleagues were
working to build a case, Lowry was “actively
and covertly sabotaging it. And sabotage it he
did, as all the charges against all the
defendants were ultimately dismissed.â€
The sentencing hearing is set for 1:30 p.m.
Thursday.
Full Story With Pics Here
Thursday to send a former FBI agent to prison
for seven to nine years for stealing heroin from criminal investigations to feed his own
addiction.
The U.S. attorney’s office in the District said
Matthew Lowry, who worked in the Washington field office investigating narcotics traffickers, ruined drug cases and forced authorities to dismiss charges against 28 people, many of whom had been convicted and were serving time in federal prison.
Lowry’s attorney is pressing the judge to allow
the former agent to serve his time on home
detention, stressing that his client, 33, was
motivated not by “greed†or “malice†but by an
addiction that began with prescription
painkillers he took for an intestinal inflammation. But prosecutors said that Lowry
not only stole during a 14-month period, he also carefully covered up his crimes.
“Whatever can be said of the defendant’s
decision to self-medicate, what is both
indefensible and inexcusable is the fact that the defendant decided to supply himself with heroin by stealing it from FBI custody,†Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin R. Brenner wrote in a sentencing memorandum that uses unusually direct language to counter Lowry’s argument that he should be treated as an addict, not a criminal.
This was “a premeditated and systematic
cover-up, perpetrated by an FBI agent, as an
FBI agent,†Brenner wrote. “The defendant
manipulated and abused his official duties both
to steal the heroin and then hide his tampering.
Regardless of whether the thefts may be attributable to the defendant’s dependency, the cover-up was hardly the product of artificially or temporarily clouded judgment.â€
On March 31, Lowry pleaded guilty to 64
criminal charges, including obstruction of justice, tampering with evidence and heroin
possession.
He was caught at the end of September when fellow agents found him incoherent outside his agency car, which had run out of gas in a lot near the Navy Yard in Southeast Washington.
Agents later found drugs in open evidence bags in the car. Lowry had taken advantage of lax evidence rules at the Washington field office that enabled him to sign out drugs for lab testing and then keep the packages in his car for months without anyone questioning him.
After taking heroin, Lowry added filler to the
bags so their weight would not be different
when he returned them, and he forged
colleagues’ signatures on sign-out sheets.
In an interview last month, Lowry, who is
married and has a 16-month-old son, described
his long battle with colitis. He said that one
doctor prescribed pain medication and that he
soon became addicted. After that doctor
disappeared, he had no way to get new prescriptions and, in withdrawal, turned to
heroin.
Defense attorney Robert C. Bonsib filed
voluminous letters of support from Lowry’s
father, a retired assistant police chief in Anne
Arundel County, as well as Lowry’s mother, his
wife, brothers, pastor and friends, and Bonsib is pleading with the judge to deviate from sentencing guidelines and put Lowry on
extended home detention instead of sending
him to prison.
He noted that Lowry stole drugs to feed a
personal addiction, not as part of a scheme
hatched out of “greed, malice, kickbacks, pay-
offs [or] selling or distributing drugs to others.â€
Even as Lowry stole drugs, Bonsib wrote, “he
did not bribe other people to cover up his mistakes, and he never stopped enforcing the
law on others.†Bonsib also says in his sentencing memorandum that Lowry, once caught, immediately confessed, began treatment and walked prosecutors through his thefts step by step so they could assess the damage to criminal cases.
The former agent has talked about his addiction publicly in hopes of serving
as a warning to others, his lawyer said.
Bonsib called the drug thefts a small slice of his client’s otherwise law-abiding life: “This is an extraordinary case, involving an incredible
young man, whose intentions were honorable,
whose conditions were demanding, whose
mistakes were serious, but whose potential is limitless.â€
Brenner countered in his memorandum that
Lowry did not seek help or turn himself in until
he was caught. “The defendant stood silent,†the prosecutor wrote, “even as numerous cases impacted by his misconduct were proceeding and one defendant after another was entering a guilty plea. Concerned primarily with himself, the defendant, in lieu of serving the interests of justice, actively and purposefully sought to obstruct it.â€
Citing one large-scale drug investigation,
Brenner said that while colleagues were
working to build a case, Lowry was “actively
and covertly sabotaging it. And sabotage it he
did, as all the charges against all the
defendants were ultimately dismissed.â€
The sentencing hearing is set for 1:30 p.m.
Thursday.
Full Story With Pics Here