FBI INFORMANT INDICTED FOR OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray of the Criminal Division and Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine announced that an Eastern District of Michigan federal grand jury returned a nine-count indictment charging Myron Strong, a longstanding informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, for allegedly scheming to deceive the FBI during a 3½ year federal grand jury investigation in Detroit.

Strong, 33, is charged with obstruction of justice, witness tampering, theft of government property, retaliating against an undercover FBI agent, and distributing controlled substances several times during the investigation. Strong was also charged for unlawfully possessing firearms on the date of his arrest last January.

The indictment returned late Thursday charges that between September 2000 and February 2004, Strong schemed to defraud law enforcement by inventing a fictitious international drug trafficking organization that he claimed was distributing cocaine, heroin, and marijuana across the country through several purported drug dealers in the Detroit area, including “Zule Obawallah Shule.” During the alleged scheme, Strong falsely accused real individuals of being drug dealers and submitted drugs and other substances as alleged evidence of their crimes. He also is alleged to have recruited individuals posing as drug dealers to make scripted phone calls so that the FBI would participate in purported undercover drug deals with these individuals. The indictment charges that after the deals took place and the purported drug dealers sold the drugs, Strong would convert the buy money FBI agents gave the purported drug dealers. Strong’s scheme netted him approximately $240,000 in drug buy money and other investigative expenses, the indictment alleges. In January 2003, as his scheme was fully underway, the indictment alleges that Strong also caused an individual posing as “Orande,” a putative drug dealer, to make two calls threatening to kill an undercover FBI agent investigating the purported drug organization.

The indictment follows a criminal complaint filed against Strong and two co-defendants in February. The complaint charged that Strong recruited several others to make false allegations against the former Special Agent in Charge (“SAC”) of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office. According to the complaint, during the course of the aforementioned FBI investigation, Strong and his co-defendants made statements falsely incriminating the former SAC in telephone calls that Strong knew were being monitored by the FBI. In those calls, it was falsely suggested that the purported drug dealers had an improper relationship with the FBI SAC and that the SAC had given them information about the FBI’s investigation into their drug trafficking.

Following the initial charges, the Office of the Inspector General and the Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice began investigation into Strong’s scheme. The investigation uncovered the misconduct alleged in the indictment..

The agents and supervisors assigned to this case were honored for their work by Attorney General John Ashcroft during ceremonies in Washington this week. “This was a brazen attempt to deceive law enforcement for personal gain.” said Assistant Attorney General Wray. “The great work of these prosecutors and investigators in uncovering this scheme again illustrates our commitment to defending the integrity of our criminal justice system.”

The charges of obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and theft of government property each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fines. The charge of retaliation against a law enforcement officer carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine. The drug distribution charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine. The charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The investigation is being conducted by the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General, with assistance from the FBI, and prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Kartik K. Raman and Daniel Schwager of the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section, headed by Section Chief Noel Hillman, with assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Allen of the Eastern District of Michigan.

The charges contained in the indictment are accusations. The defendant is presumed innocent until such time that the government establishes his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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