Two air marshals face drug charges

[KLN]

2-12-2006 - Two U.S. air marshals face federal drug charges after being arrested last week, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office said today.

The names of the air marshals or details about what they were arrested for were not released by authorities.

However, Time Magazine's Web site said the air marshals were allegedly involved with the possession or transportation of cocaine and may have received thousands of dollars for their work.

The magazine said one of those arrested is a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent.

Nancy Herrera, with the U.S. Attorney's Office, in Houston, said the air marshals were arrested Thursday afternoon in northwest Houston near the intersection of West Road and Telge by agents with the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General, the FBI, the U.S. Air Marshals Service and the Harris County Sheriff's Department.

Both men arrested remain in federal custody.

Herrera could not say if the men had court hearings scheduled for this week.

Thousands of air marshals, who fly undercover on airliners, were rushed into service after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Though the exact number of air marshals is classified, pilots estimate that they cover a small percentage of flights.

[KC]

02/13/2006 - HOUSTON - Two U.S. air marshals face federal drug charges accusing them of using their positions to smuggle narcotics through airport security and onto planes for transport, federal prosecutors said.

Shawn Ray Nguyen, 38, and Burlie L. Sholar III, 32, both of Houston, were arrested Thursday after an informant delivered 33 pounds of cocaine and $15,000 in "up front money" to Nguyen's Houston home, authorities said.

"We expect and demand that our law enforcement officials will themselves abide by the laws that they are sworn to uphold," said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle.

According to a criminal complaint, authorities began investigating Nguyen in November after receiving a tip that he was involved in selling drugs.

Authorities said Nguyen recruited Sholar and the two planned to smuggle 33 pounds of cocaine aboard a plane bound for Las Vegas in exchange for $67,500.

Both men face 10 years to life in prison and a $4 million fine if convicted.

The exact number of air marshals is classified but thousands were rushed into service after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

[ASN]

Burlie L. Sholar III was a good policeman and a good U.S. officer in the eyes of his peers before he and another federal sky marshal were arrested on drug charges last week.

"I'm just surprised that he would be involved in this alleged activity," said former Homeland Security Department agent Danny Stanley, now assistant chief of the Fort Pickett Police Department in Virginia.

Sholar, 32, and Shawn Ray Nguyen, 38, both of Houston, are accused of conspiring to use their positions as air marshals to smuggle 15 kilograms, or 33 pounds, of cocaine on an airliner flying from Houston to Las Vegas.

Stanley said Sholar was a good friend whom he first met in Washington, D.C., when Stanley worked for the Metropolitan Police Department and Sholar worked for the U.S. Capitol Police.

He said he and Sholar were friends for about two years before Sholar left the Capitol Police to join the Los Angeles Police Department.

Sgt. Kimberly Schneider of the Capitol Police did not respond to a request for information about Sholar's employment.

Officer Sara Faden of the LAPD said Sholar joined the department in 1996 and resigned for personal reasons in 2001.

"To my knowledge he had a respectable record," Faden said.

David Adams, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said Sholar was hired as an air marshal in 2001.

Stanley renewed his acquaintance with Sholar after taking a job as an agent with Homeland Security in 2002, he said.

"I knew him quite well and the allegations surprised me," Stanley said. "It certainly surprised myself and other co-workers."

He said he had received numerous phone calls from agents who worked with Sholar, all expressing disbelief.

Nguyen was an agent with the Houston office of the Drug Enforcement Administration from 1997 to 2002 and left voluntarily to become an air marshal, DEA spokesman Ray D'Alessio said.

D'Alessio said Nguyen was in good standing when he left the agency.

Adams said Sholar and Nguyen both were subjected to thorough background checks that gave them a top-secret security clearance.

The background checks conducted by the Office of Personnel Management typically include a review of previous employment, criminal and credit background checks, and interviews of acquaintances by field agents, Adams said.

The field agent reports are reviewed by other officials. Once approved, agents must be reinvestigated every five years, he said.

Federal court records show that Nguyen filed for bankruptcy two weeks after becoming an air marshal in 2002.

He had a total debt of $203,000, including a $108,500 mortgage and more than $50,000 in credit card debt, records show.

Nguyen listed a former wife and three children in his filing.

There is no indication that his bankruptcy was a factor in his decision to begin associating with a person he knew had a criminal history and ties to a drug trafficker, as alleged in the criminal complaint.

Nguyen began giving the person, referred to only as a cooperating witness, thousands of dollars in cash to invest in drug transactions, according to the complaint against him and Sholar.

The informant recorded incriminating conversations with Nguyen and helped investigators from the FBI and Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General set up a phony drug transaction that led to their arrest, the complaint says.

[ASN]

One of two Houston-based federal air marshals arrested on drug charges warned the other that "his life wasn't worth anything" if he revealed information to authorities, according to testimony today.

Burlie L. Sholar III made the threat to Shawn Ray Nguyen as they were being taken from the federal detention center to the federal courthouse downtown, said Stuart Maneth, an agent with the Inspector General's Office of the Homeland Security Department.

Maneth testified in a detention and arraignment hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen Smith that will determine whether Sholar and Nguyen can be released on bail while awaiting trial.

Sholar, 38, and Nguyen, 32, both of Houston, are accused of conspiring with a cooperating witness, whose name has not been disclosed, to use their jobs as air marshals to smuggle 15 kilograms, or 33 pounds, of cocaine aboard an airliner from Houston to Las Vegas. They were arrested last week.

Under questioning by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark McIntyre, Maneth said Nguyen complained about the threat after he was put in a courthouse holding cell on Friday.

Sholar was in the back seat and Nguyen in the front of Maneth's car when Sholar "made threats about giving up the fams," an apparent reference to information about others involved in smuggling.

"He said if he did, his life wasn't worth anything," Maneth testified.

Maneth also said that Nguyen had threatened to kill the confidential witness if he exposed the air marshals. He said Nguyen told the witness at one point, "If you tell anything, I'll put you to sleep, I swear to God."

At another meeting with the informant, Nguyen suggested he and Sholar could kill with impunity, Maneth testified.

"Homeboy and I can kill and get away with it," he quoted Nguyen as saying.

Nguyen was unaware that the informant was recording some conversations and working with the Inspector General's Office and the FBI.

Nguyen's attorney, Kent Shaffer, and Sholar's attorney, George Parnham, are expected to present witnesses when the hearing resumes later today.

[WaTcHeR]

04/03/2006 - Two federal air marshals pleaded guilty today to drug and bribery charges and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, raising the possibility that other air marshals are under investigation.

Burlie L. Sholar III, 38, and Shawn Ray Nguyen, 32, pleaded guilty to agreeing to accept $15,000 in return for using their positions as air marshals to bypass security to smuggle 15 pounds of cocaine on a flight to Las Vegas.

Their arrests raised concerns about airport security, with prosecutors pointing out during a detention hearing in February that Nguyen had smuggled other items in a briefcase and had stated that he didn't care what the briefcase contained.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark McIntyre said the investigation was continuing, but cautioned against the expectation of more arrests.

"We will have to wait and see where the investigation leads us," he said.

The possibility of wrongdoing by other air marshals was evident in February when a third air marshal admitted during a dramatic courtroom confrontation to sharing a room with Sholar so he could bill the government for a second hotel room.

Patrick Hightower, one of four air marshals who appeared as character witnesses for Sholar during a detention hearing, was relieved of his credentials and badge and assigned to administrative duties in the wake of his courtroom admission.

Homeland Security spokesman David Adams said Monday that Sholar and Nguyen remained on indefinite suspension without pay.

A Homeland Security Department agent testified during the same hearing that Sholar threatened Nguyen, saying that "his life wasn't worth anything," if he offered incriminating information about other air marshals.

Nguyen's attorney, Kent Schaffer, declined to say whether his client would offer information about misconduct by other air marshals, although he stated in the February hearing that Nguyen had done so.

Schaffer said Nguyen pleaded guilty because "he felt that the best way to ... demonstrate his repentance about his conduct was to take a guilty plea as early as possible."

Sholar's attorney, George Parnham, also declined to say whether his client might have information about wrongdoing by other air marshals.

"We believe that this was the best alternative for Mr. Sholar," Parnham said of the guilty plea. "We want to save ourselves as much of his future as we can."

In their plea agreements, the two admit that they discussed accepting $5,000 per kilogram from an FBI informant in exchange for trying to smuggle 15 kilograms, or about 33 pounds, of cocaine past security at Bush Intercontinental Airport and onto a flight bound for Las Vegas.

Sholar made flight and hotel arrangements and agreed to meet Nguyen at his house prior to making the smuggling attempt, according to the plea agreements. A federal informant, who had recorded numerous conversations with Nguyen, delivered the cocaine and $15,000 in marked bills to Nguyen's house Feb. 9, shortly before the two were arrested, the agreements state.

They were charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and aiding and abetting the bribery of a public official.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt told Sholar and Nguyen that they could be sentenced to 10 years to life in prison and a maximum fine of $4 million on the drug-smuggling charge and 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on a bribery charge.

[KC]

August 30, 2006 - HOUSTON - Two former U-S air marshals have been sentenced to prison for accepting 15-thousand dollars to smuggle cocaine on a flight to Las Vegas last year.

Thirty-eight-year-old Burlie Sholar the Third and 32-year-old Shawn Ray Nguyen admitted in plea bargains in April that they accepted money to smuggle 33 pounds of cocaine.

U-S District Judge Kenneth Hoyt on Monday sentenced Sholar to nine years in prison on charges of bribery and conspiring to possess, with intent to distribute, cocaine.

Nguyen received a shorter sentence of seven years and three months for cooperating with investigators.

Both men will be under supervised release for five years after their prison terms.

According to the criminal complaint, Nguyen smuggled two envelopes containing drug money and fraudulent government documents past airport security in December.

Nguyen then discussed with the informant smuggling large loads of cocaine and bringing in others to help.

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