Ex-FBI Agent Charged With Swiping Drug Money

LOS ANGELES (CN) - A former FBI special agent has been indicted for allegedly stealing over $100,000 in drug money seized during the execution of search warrants, the Justice Department said Thursday.

Scott Bowman, 44, was charged on Wednesday with three counts of conversion of property by a federal employee, three counts of obstruction, two counts of money laundering, one count of falsifying records and one count of witness tampering.

The indictment was unsealed on Thursday and alleges Bowman stole the money between June and August 2014, after the funds were transferred to his custody following the execution of search warrants.

Bowman went on a spending spree with the money, blowing $43,000 for a Dodge Challenger and $27,500 on a Toyota Scion - and nearly $27,000 to outfit the vehicles with new rims, speakers and tires, the indictment alleges.

The Justice Department also says Bowman spent $15,000 to pay for his wife's plastic surgery and deposited nearly $11,000 into a checking account, which he used to pay for a weekend stay at a luxury resort in Las Vegas, according to the indictment.

Finding it necessary to create a cover story for his cash windfall, the 21-page indictment says that Bowman allegedly told colleagues he had received a $96,000 advance on his inheritance from his sick father.

As questions mounted from other law enforcement officers, Bowman allegedly told FBI supervisors that employees of the company where the agency deposits drug money for safekeeping had commingled different seizures, according to the indictment.

Bowman also allegedly asked another agent to lie for him and even provided the agent with a cover story to use if investigators questioned him, the indictment says.

The case is being investigated by DOJ's Office of the Inspector General and prosecuted by the department's public integrity section.

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