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- Two Utah Homeland Security agents face criminal charges accusing them of illegally selling seized drugs on the side.
- Nicholas Kindle and David Cole used their positions to acquire and sell narcotics for personal gain, prosecutors say.
SALT LAKE CITY — The second of two special agents with the Department of Homeland Security in Utah tasked with fighting the war on drugs has been charged in federal court with putting drugs right back on the street by selling drugs to dealers.
Felony information was filed Monday against Nicholas Kindle, accusing him of conspiracy to convert property of the U.S. government and conspiracy to distribute drugs.
In December, a 27-page criminal complaint was unsealed against David Cole, 50, of South Jordan, for conspiracy to distribute and possess drugs with intent to distribute. The federal complaint also listed an unnamed "person A" as a possible co-defendant. That person was identified this week in court documents as Kindle.
"Kindle and Cole used their positions as special agents to wrongfully obtain illegal narcotics seized by the Department of Homeland Security and other law enforcement agencies and then sold the illegal narcotics to drug dealers … for their own personal enrichment," the federal court documents allege.
The U.S. Department of Justice released a statement following Cole's indictment, further adding that "Cole and another Homeland Security special agent used their status as federal law enforcement officers to acquire bath salts by representing to others in Homeland Security and in other law enforcement agencies that they were going to use the bath salts to conduct legitimate Homeland Security investigations. ... Cole and his co-conspirator profited hundreds of thousands of dollars through their illegal drug sales."
The two are accused of using a confidential informant who had worked with Homeland Security agents on legitimate investigations. Kindle and Cole, however, began taking bath salts in 2021 used in investigations, made the informant purchase the drugs for $5,000 and then allowed the informant to resell the drugs and keep the proceeds, charging documents state. The people who were sold the drugs were never investigated.
"According to (the informant), Cole and Kindle never arrested any of the individuals to whom (the informant) sold the bath salts, nor did Cole and Kindle provide (the informant) with recording devices or other equipment to aid in gathering evidence of those involved in the illegal drug purchases," court documents state.
Investigators believe the two agents made $195,000 from illegal drug sales to the informant between April and December.
Furthermore, between 2021 and 2024, "on at least three occasions, Cole and Kindle stole evidence that was meant to be seized by Homeland Security as part of legitimate Homeland Security investigations. This theft included thousands of dollars in cash, a diamond ring and a Peruvian antiquity," the new charges state.
In October, the informant and his attorney contacted the U.S. Attorney's Office about the illegal sales and the FBI launched an investigation to confirm the legitimacy of the allegations. The FBI used the informant to conduct controlled drug buys with Kindle and Cole. FBI agents monitored Kindle and Cole's movements as the drug deals were conducted, court documents state.
