May 20, 2015

Former DEA Supervisor and Employee Charged with False Statements Regarding Employment at Adult Entertainment Establishment

Preet Bharara, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Diego Rodriguez, the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and Ronald R. Gardella, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General (“DOJ-OIG”), announced today the arrest of DAVID POLOS, until recently an Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge with the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), and GLEN GLOVER, a DEA Information Technology Specialist, for allegedly making false statements to the government regarding their employment at an adult entertainment establishment. The Complaint alleges that POLOS, who supervised the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Strike Force, and GLOVER failed to disclose their employment at, and ownership interests in, an adult entertainment establishment (the “Club”) in Northern New Jersey in connection with a background check to determine their suitability as employees of a federal law enforcement agency with access to classified information. The national security forms POLOS and GLOVER allegedly submitted in connection with the background check require disclosure of outside employment in part due to concerns attendant to certain types of employment, including proximity to crime and persons involved in crime and the risk of employee blackmail. POLOS and GLOVER surrendered to the FBI in Manhattan this morning, and are scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin Nathaniel Fox in Manhattan federal court later today.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Bharara said: “David Polos and Glen Glover had important and sensitive law enforcement jobs with the DEA. As alleged in the Complaint, they also had other secret jobs, which they concealed from DEA in order to maintain their national security clearance, betraying the oaths they had taken and creating needless risk for the agency they worked for.”

FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Rodriguez said: “We expect those in government—and particularly those charged with enforcing the law—to tell the truth. As alleged, the defendants’ lack of candor is what finds them before a judge today in Manhattan Federal Court.”

DOJ-OIG Special Agent-in-Charge Gardella said: “Federal law enforcement officers must be held to the highest standards of integrity. The alleged conduct is serious and we will do everything we can to ensure that justice is done in this case.”

According to the allegations in the Complaint unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:

GLOVER and POLOS submitted national security forms in August and September 2011, respectively, that stated, among other things, that they did not have employment other than their DEA jobs within the previous seven years. In fact, as charged, GLOVER was the part owner of, and POLOS had a convertible ownership interest in, the Club, which featured scantily clad and sometimes topless women dancers and offered private stalls for what were supposed to be limited-contact dances between dancers and their patrons. As POLOS and GLOVER knew, many of the dancers—who at times engaged in sexual acts with club patrons and staff—were undocumented immigrants not lawfully in the United States.

GLOVER and POLOS both worked regular shifts at the Club in the months prior to and following their submission of the national security forms. They also hired, fired, and paid bartenders, dancers, and bouncers; advertised the Club in local periodicals; manned a back office available only to employees; remotely monitored video camera feed from the Club when not present; and generally tended to various Club-related matters. GLOVER and POLOS at times attended to Club matters during DEA work hours.

Had POLOS and GLOVER truthfully disclosed their employment at the Club, their ownership and involvement in the affairs of the Club would have been investigated as part of their background checks, and the security clearances that they were required to maintain as federal law enforcement employees likely would have been denied.

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POLOS, 51, of West Nyack, New York, and GLOVER, 45, of Lyndhurst, New Jersey, are each charged with one count of making false statements, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by a judge.

Mr. Bharara praised the investigative work of the FBI and DOJ-OIG. He also thanked the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division for its assistance.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Public Corruption Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Martin S. Bell and Andrew D. Goldstein are in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Complaint and the description of the Complaint set forth herein constitute only allegations and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.