U.S. Drug Agent Acquitted of Theft and Lying Counts

A federal drug agent and his wife wept Tuesday as a verdict acquitting him of theft and lying was opened and read in court.

The U.S. District Court jury returned the verdict late Friday, but it was kept sealed until Tuesday because the defendant, Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Eddie Hill, 49, of Hayward, Calif., was ill.

Before transferring to Washington, Hill supervised 15 drug agents in Los Angeles.

He was indicted by a federal grand jury in October on charges of stealing $1,780 from convicted drug dealer John Missas Lopez in June, 1987. The cash was supposed to be returned to Missas because it was not proven to have come from drug profits.

The DEA agent also was accused of lying to investigators who inquired about the money after Missas complained that it had not been returned, and of giving $4,000 in government funds over three years to an informant with whom he was friendly, but who had not provided any information.

Hill testified that he had forgotten to return the money to Missas partly because of a cross-country move. He denied that he lied to investigators and said the money he gave the informant was for information provided in six DEA cases.

Hill said the informant was paid a total of $60,000 for information in 28 cases, but that he failed to sign paperwork for eight of the payments.

He said he told investigators he had given Missas’ money to a drug agent to return to him, but later discovered he had placed it in his safe at home and forgotten about it. He was indicted after trying to return the money to the DEA through his informant friend.

Hill, who is black, admitted mishandling the money but said the government’s criminal prosecution was racially motivated and the result of “certain individuals” with whom he had personality conflicts.

“Blacks are seen as less loyal and more prone to doing something wrong,” Hill said outside the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter.

He said he was told by other DEA agents that he was being prosecuted because he received about $13,000 in a settlement of a racial discrimination class-action suit against the Justice Department in 1982. A court found the Justice Department guilty of discriminating against blacks in hiring and promotion.

After the verdict was read, Hill hung his head and wiped tears from his eyes while his wife, Joanne, sobbed with relief as their son hugged her.

Jury foreman Michael Oclary, 21, of Calabasas, said “a lot of jurors were frustrated” by the case and thought their time could be better spent on more serious accusations.

“We just felt that what they were charging Hill with could have been handled administratively,” Oclary said. “He had no criminal intent.”

Hill said he did not blame the agency but did blame individuals in the DEA and the U.S. attorney’s office for his criminal prosecution. He said he wants to return to work.

He was a mid-level manager on the DEA’s “cocaine desk” in Washington when he was indicted.

But his lawyer, Robert Ramsey, said he does not believe the DEA will ever treat Hill fairly if he returns.

Hill, who lived in Upper Marlboro, Md., when he was indicted, could have been sentenced to as much as 65 years in prison and fined $3 million if he had been convicted on all 12 counts.

Assistant U.S. Atty. William Fahey said the jury had acted “conscientiously” and that the case had to be filed “any time there is an allegation of corruption” by a government agent.