“Sentencing set for today in DEA phone leak case” |
| Sentencing set for today in DEA phone leak case Posted: 26 Nov 2010 09:23 AM PST A Georgia woman is scheduled to be sentenced today in federal court for giving the private cell-phone number of a Drug Enforcement Administration agent to the kingpin of a northwestern Vermont crack-cocaine ring at the time the DEA was investigating him. Amy Quesnel, 29, was a sales coordinator for Sprint-Nextel in 2008 when, according to papers on file at U.S. District Court in Burlington, she gave alleged drug kingpin Michael Olsen the agent's phone number and then let Olsen see the phone numbers of the people the agent was calling. Unknown to Quesnel, Olsen found the number of his ex-girlfriend on that list, who he suspected was working as an informant for the DEA, court documents contend. "The defendant engaged in extraordinary criminal conduct that heretofore has not been seen or prosecuted in the State of Vermont," Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Perella wrote of Quesnel in a sentencing memorandum filed with the court. Quesnel is among 20 people indicted last year who are accused of being part of a drug conspiracy run by Olsen out of Rizzo Brothers, a South Burlington auto-detailing firm. Federal agents say Rizzo Brothers was a front for selling crack cocaine in 2008 and 2009. All 20 defendants have agreed to plead guilty. Quesnel will be the second member of the group to undergo sentencing. Olsen's sentencing date is scheduled for February. According to court papers, Olsen allegedly persuaded Quesnel to divulge the cell-phone activity because he was engaged in a child-custody fight with the ex-girlfriend and wanted proof the woman was having a relationship with "a new man" -- the DEA agent. "(Quesnel's) disclosures could have resulted in serious harm to witnesses in an important cocaine distribution investigation," Perella's memorandum stated. "The disclosures did, in fact, result in one witness being intimidated by Olsen who repeatedly stated to her that he knew she was talking to the DEA because he had access to her phone records." Quesnel's actions also caused the DEA's Vermont office to twice change the phone numbers of its agents, Perella wrote. (2 of 2) Quesnel could receive a prison sentence of up to 10 years on a charge of obtaining confidential phone records, although Perella's filing is asking for a sentence of 10 to 16 months in jail. She is expected to tell Chief Judge William Sessions III at today's hearing in U.S. District Court in Burlington that she regrets using bad judgment in giving Olsen access to the agent's number and phone activity, but did so in part because she knew Olsen was a violent person who might harm her if she didn't do as he asked. Quesnel knew Olsen was capable of violence because, according to federal agents, Olsen and an accomplice came to her home in 2007 after they had assaulted three people at another home in Georgia and tortured one of them by burning that person's hand with a blow torch. "One could be angry that Amy did not immediately turn down his request for the telephone information." Edward Kenney, Quesnel's lawyer, wrote in a memorandum filed with the court last week. "But one also understands that turning down someone who has this history would not be the path of least resistance." Kenney also wrote that Quesnel has aided in the government's investigation of the drug ring by voluntarily taping phone conversations with friends of Olsen after his arrest and then turning the tapes over to the DEA. There is no evidence Quesnel sold any crack cocaine or profited from Rizzo Brothers drug sales. Contact Sam Hemingway at 660-1850 or shemingway@burlingtonfreepress.com. To have Free Press headlines delivered free to your e-mail, sign up at www.burlingtonfreepress.com/newsletters. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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