Former DEA Agent Gets 5-Year Sentence : Crime: Countryman had pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax evasion. He also testified against another corrupt narcotics officer.

A former federal drug agent was sentenced Monday to five years in prison for his part in what has been called the worst corruption scandal in the history of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Wayne Countryman, 48, had pleaded guilty to narcotics conspiracy and tax evasion and testified for the prosecution at the trial of another agent, Darnell Garcia, who has been sentenced to 80 years in prison. A third agent, John Jackson of Claremont, has also pleaded guilty, but has not been sentenced.

The three drug agents and two others were indicted in 1988 in a case that involved drug trafficking and thefts from drug dealers and federal vaults as well as money-laundering.

Prosecutors said Countryman and his two colleagues at one point had nearly $5 million stashed in Swiss bank accounts.

Of the five indicted, only Garcia has maintained his innocence. A jury found him guilty of drug trafficking and money-laundering. U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter, who sentenced Garcia in July, gave him 20 more years in prison than the prosecution sought. Hatter said he tacked on the additional years because Garcia needlessly wasted taxpayer money on a trial and lied under oath.

Hatter also harshly criticized the DEA, saying the public had been “poorly served” by the agency, which he said failed to properly monitor the agents.

At Countryman’s sentencing, his attorney, Joseph Walsh, requested probation for his client, telling Hatter that Countryman had paid a “very heavy price because of his involvement in this case.”

“He is very remorseful and very sorrowful for the pain he has caused his family and the DEA,” Walsh said.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Stefan Stein told Hatter that the government only “knew a pittance” about the extent of the corruption until Countryman agreed to cooperate.

Under the terms of an agreement with the prosecution, Countryman, of Walnut, pleaded guilty in August, 1990, to a single count each of conspiracy and tax evasion.

He is free on $100,000 bond and must begin his prison term Oct. 21.