(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A Department of Homeland Security special agent in Utah was arrested last week for selling bath salts that may have been stolen from DHS facilities.
A criminal complaint unsealed Monday alleges that the agent, David Cole, worked with one other DHS agent as well as a confidential informant as part of an apparent conspiracy to distribute bath salts, also known as alpha-pyrrolidinohexiophenone, or Alpha-PHP—a potent drug said to mimick the effects of cocaine, methamphetamine, and MDMA. The other DHS agent has yet to be arrested but has had his credentials suspended, while the confidential informant is cooperating with the FBI.
Both Cole and the other agent worked for DHS’s lead investigative unit, Homeland Security Investigations.
According to the complaint, the HSI arrested confidential informant in April 2022. While he was in prison, Cole and the other agent recruited him as their informant.
This is a wild one. It looks like 2 DHS agents recruited an informant in prison and had him stole drugs stolen from DHS evidence lockers. https://t.co/tzG6qWogPz pic.twitter.com/aeIoRg80ys
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) December 10, 2024
Cold and the other agent had their informant conduct “controlled buys” from suspected drug dealers as part of legitimate HSI investigations. But they also permitted their informant to sell drugs on the street, so long as they paid them $5,000 for roughly 25 grams of bath salts.
“COLE and PERSON A instructed CS1 to sell the bath salts to contacts CS1 had in the community, with an understanding that the bath salt product could be resold for approximately $10,000. COLE and PERSON A permitted CS1 to keep the $10,000 when he had completed the sale,” the FBI’s complaint states.
“According to [the informant], from in or about April 2024 to present [the informant], COLE, and [the other DHS agent] have been conducting these unlawful drug deals once or twice a week within the District of Utah, usually arranging the time and place of the meet via an encrypted messaging application called Signal,” the complaint states.
“Based on an average of one or two drug buys per week, involving 25 grams of bath salts and the amount of $5,000 each buy, it is estimated that COLE and PERSON A have profited approximately $150,000 to $300,000 in illegal proceeds.”
The complaint further reveals the possibility that the drugs sold by Cole and his informant may have been taken from DHS evidence lockers—at least that’s what the informant told the FBI.
“The FBI is still in the process of corroborating this allegation, but according to DHS information, PERSON A appears to have evidence custodian duties at HSI,” the complaint states.
In October, the informant’s defense attorney contacted the FBI about the illegal drug dealing. From there, FBI agents had the informant conduct eight “controlled buys”—five with Cole and three with the other agent— as part of their sting operation against the DHS agents.
Last week, FBI agents executed search warrants on Cole and the other agent, seizing apparent bath salts, more than $67,000 in cash, and other evidence, according to the complaint.
Cole remains in detention and has a preliminary hearing Friday. He faces up to 20 years imprisonment and a $1 million fine.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
