DEA agents 'had sex parties with prostitutes funded by drug cartels'

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Several DEA agents were participating in alleged sex parties in Colombia starting in 2001 according to a new report
The parties featured prostitutes paid for by drug cartels
This news comes two weeks after a report found that at least 7 agents admitted sleeping with prostitutes while on overseas assignments
Instead of firing or prosecuting agents, the DEA treated prostitution cases as 'local management issue' and suspended them for no more than 14 days

Published: 10:26 EST, 14 April 2015 | Updated: 15:19 EST, 14 April 2015

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US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents in Colombia were taking part in alleged 'sex parties' with prostitutes funded by drug cartels years earlier than previously known, U.S. lawmakers said on Tuesday.

Several DEA agents were taking part in these parties in Bogota as early as 2001, said a summary of a DEA report released by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform at a hearing on the misconduct.

'This new internal report describes not one or two isolated incidents, but literally dozens of parties with prostitutes,' Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings said at the hearing, where lawmakers grilled DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart.

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Several DEA agents were participating in alleged sex parties in Colombia starting in 2001 according to a new report

This news comes two weeks after a report found that at least 7 agents admitted sleeping with prostitutes while on overseas assignments

The hearing came on the heels of a separate, March 26 report by the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General that described similar allegations between 2005 and 2008.

That report said 10 agents - an assistant regional director and nine special agents - had alleged sex parties on government-leased property and used taxpayer money to pay for the prostitutes.

After investigation, seven of the agents admitted attending the parties and were suspended for between two and 10 days.

One special agent was cleared of all wrongdoing, the report said.

None of the agents was named in the report.

The inspector general said it investigated allegations of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct between October 2008 and September 2012, though they declined to confirm where the alleged 'sex parties' took place.

The DEA declined to comment.

That report cited 'repeated allegations of DEA Special Agents ... patronizing prostitutes and frequenting a brothel while in an overseas posting.'

It came in the wake of a prostitution scandal involving Secret Service agents in Cartagena, Colombia, in 2012 that damaged the agency's straitlaced reputation.

Where there was alleged high-risk sexual misdeeds, security agency personnel often were not told 'until long after they occurred or were never informed, even though such behavior presents significant security risks,' the report said.

DEA agents partied with cartel's prostitutes as far back as 2001

The inspector general found a wide range of sex-related offenses in the case files of the FBI, DEA, ATF and US Marshals Service, including sex with prostitutes and sexual assault of minors in a report two weeks ago

DEA agent accused of throwing glass at prostitute over payment

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz called the allegations regarding the DEA agents 'stunning' and urged action.

Inspectors also criticized the FBI and DEA for initially refusing to provide unredacted information requested, and then providing information that was "still incomplete."

Department of Justice spokesman Patrick Rodenbush said the department is already working with the agencies 'to ensure a zero tolerance policy on sexual harassment and misconduct is enforced and that incidents are properly reported.'