Californian student left in holding cell by DEA for 5 days without food/water slams them with $20 million claim...and rightly so

California student left in cell for five days files $20M claim against DEA

NY Post/NEWSCORE
Posted: May 3, 2012

AP PHOTO/U-T SAN DIEGO, K.C. ALFRED

SAN DIEGO -- The California student who was forgotten about by agents and left alone in a holding cell for five days without food or water filed a $20 million claim Wednesday against federal drug officials.

Attorney Eugene Iredale sent the demand notice on behalf of UC San Diego senior Daniel Chong, 23, to the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) general counsel, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

"The deprivation of food and water for four and one-half days while the person is handcuffed the entire time constitutes torture under both international and domestic law," the claim said.

Chong has said he was eventually forced to drink his own urine to survive after being detained and locked in the five-by-10-foot windowless cell after a drug raid on April 21.

He was discovered April 25 and rushed to the hospital, where he spent five days being treated for a perforated lung, possible kidney failure and other illnesses.

Earlier Wednesday, the DEA issued an apology to Chong in the form of a statement from the top federal drug agent in San Diego, acting special agent in charge William R. Sherman.

"I am deeply troubled by the incident that occurred here last week," the statement said, without mentioning Chong by name. "I extend my deepest apologies to the young man and want to express that this event is not indicative of the high standards that I hold my employees to. I have personally ordered an extensive review of our policies and procedures."

The repercussions from the incident reached Washington on Wednesday, with Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, set to review the case.

"Chairman Issa and the Oversight Committee will be asking the DEA for an explanation of this outrageous incident," Issa's spokesman, Frederick Hill, told the Union-Tribune.
Meanwhile, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder requesting an investigation.

At a news conference Tuesday, Chong said he screamed and kicked at the door of his cell but days passed while he was locked inside.

"I heard them around me," he said. "Every door opening around me."

The engineering student said he became badly dehydrated and began hallucinating after two days. He bit his eyeglasses to break the glass and scrawl the words "Sorry Mom" on his arm. He also tried to eat some of the glass amid his confusion.

"I had to recycle my own urine," Chong said. "I had to do what I had to do to survive."

US Soldiers sold weapons and drugs to DEA agents posing as Los Zetas

More Furious: U.S. Soldiers Trafficking Arms, Drugs to DEA Agents Posing as Los Zetas

Patrick Henningsen
Infowars.com
April 5, 2012

In case you missed it this week, an Afghan War veteran and one other active duty serviceman – along with multiple accomplices, were indicted for their involvement in a year-long federal agency sting. This particular story reads like a supermarket aisle fantasy novel… if only it were.

A gang which included US soldiers allegedly offered ‘wet-work’ murder-for-hire services, narcotics trafficking and stolen US military weapons to undercover Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents… posing as foot soldiers for Mexico’s notorious Los Zetas drug cartel.

Following the conclusion of a year long sting which ended in Laredo Texas, Kevin Corley, a 29 year old formerly active US Army Drill Seargent and Afghan veteran from Fort Carson, active duty soldier Samuel Walker, 28, both of Colorado Springs, CO, and Shavar Davis, 29, of Denver, CO, while two other men – Marcus Mickle, 20, and Calvin Epps, 26 have been arrested and charged in a conspiracy related to drug trafficking and attempted murder. A sixth man, Mario Corley, 40, from Saginaw, Texas, was also arrested in Charleston, S.C. as part of the same investigation.

During the arrest on last Saturday, another man, Jerome Corley was fatally shot.
The federal sting started back in January 2011, when Mr. Mickle entered negotiations with what he thought were members of the Lot Zetas Cartel, in order to purchase marijuana in return for stolen weapons.
(From left, Kevin Corley, Shavar Davis and Samuel Walker)

Mickle and Epps, first tried to organize the drugs shipment with the undercover agents, but are said to have brought Kevin Corley in after agents inquired about arms.

Corley later provided security for a 500 lb shipment of marijuana trucked from Texas to South Carolina, according to the complaint.

In addition, Kevin Corley offered to provide full combat training for 40 cartel members in just two weeks. The Army soldier explained that an array of military weapons could be easily stolen from army posts. According to the complaint document, Corley also “offered to provide tactical training for cartel members, including approaches, room clearing, security, and convoy security. Kevin Corley also offered to purchase weapons for the cartel under his name as long as he could destroy serial numbers.”

Kevin Corley traveled to Laredo on Jan. 7, to meet with undercover DEA agents and discuss the murder-for-hire scheme, where, according to the official complaint filing (PDF), “Kevin Corley proposed a $50,000 fee to perform the contract killing and retrieve the 20 kilograms of cocaine, and Kevin Corley offered to refund the money if the victim survived… also told the agents he would accept cocaine in lieu of the fee for his service, but ultimately agreed to accept $50,000 and five kilograms of cocaine for a full team.”

So we have Kevin Corley leading a US Military hit-squad for the DEA’s faux Zetas, and later conspiring to supplying drugs to these same Zetas.

A few interesting questions remain regarding this latest bizarre operation:

One of the unanswered questions here is why Kevin Corley and Walker was discharged from duty right before their unit were due to be deployed to Afghanistan in February?...

(click here to read the rest of the article)