WASHINGTON, March 18 (UPI) -- A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent has been charged with witness tampering in Arizona, the Justice Department said Thursday.
Douglas C. Furlow, 43, a special agent with the Phoenix Field Division of the DEA, was named in a federal indictment unsealed Thursday.
The indictment said Furlow allegedly interfered with a criminal investigation in which an undercover DEA informant was to make a drug buy leading to a suspected drug trafficker's arrest. Furlow allegedly called the trafficker and warned him the informant was working with law enforcement, the indictment said.
The DEA's investigation was aborted and neither the drug buy nor the arrest could be made. The trafficker later fled.
If convicted, Furlow faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The prosecution is being handled by the Public Integrity Section of the Justice Department. The investigation is being conducted by the Tucson Field Office of the Office of the Inspector General and the DEA's Office of Professional Responsibility, Western Field Division.
