The Washington Post - 18.09.2019

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A

NEW YORK

DEA agent admits role

in drug trafficking

A federal narcotics a gent
scheduled t o stand t rial this
month has p leaded guilty to
participating i n a decade-long
drug conspiracy that i nvolved the
smuggling of t housands o f
kilograms o f cocaine from Puerto
Rico to New York.
Prosecutors said Fernando
Gomez, a retired U.S. Marine,
infiltrated the Drug Enforcement
Administration in 2 011 and
remained a federal agent until his
arrest last year, even as h e
assisted a drug-trafficking ring
known for slaughtering its rivals.
Gomez, 42, faces up to 20 years
in prison and is scheduled t o be
sentenced Nov. 2 1 in U.S. District
Court i n Manhattan. His guilty
plea happened l ast month but
had n ot previously been reported.
A newly released transcript
shows G omez, in p leading guilty,
admitted selling f irearms t o a
high-volume cocaine t rafficker
and d rug d ealer, Jose Martinez-
Diaz, w hile G omez was w orking
as a police officer outside
Chicago.
Martinez-Diaz, a member o f La

Organización d e Narcotraficantes Unidos, p leaded guilty this summer to distributing more than 5,000 kilograms o f cocaine, drugs he s muggled from t he Dominican Republic by b oat. Prosecutors said Martinez- Diaz encouraged Gomez to apply to the D EA i n 2010 t o further his drug trafficking. — A ssociated Press

NEW JERSEY

New York City bomber faces trial in shootout

A man serving a life sentence for a bombing i n New York C ity is going o n trial in New Jersey, where h e faces a ttempted-murder charges for a llegedly firing a t police officers during a gunfight preceding his arrest. Jury s election b egan Tuesday in the trial of Ahmad Khan Rahimi. T he Afghanistan-born naturalized U.S. citizen faces attempted-murder and o ther charges stemming from h is a rrest in New Jersey in September 2016. Last y ear, a judge in New York sentenced Rahimi t o multiple life terms after a jury convicted him of setting off a pressure-cooker device, injuring 30 people. A

second p ressure-cooker bomb was d iscovered a few b locks away, but i t failed t o go o ff a nd was removed by a robot. Hours before the explosion i n Chelsea o n Sept. 17, 2016, a small pipe bomb e xploded a long a Marine C orps road r ace in Seaside

Park, N.J. No one was i njured, b ut the e vent s pread fear and drew parallels to the 2 013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three and injured more t han 2 60. The bombings triggered a two- day manhunt that ended in a shootout with police in Linden,

N.J., where R ahimi was found asleep in a tavern doorway. Several police officers were injured. — A ssociated Press

NEVADA

Alleged plotter faces federal firearm charge

A former security guard accused of compiling bomb components and guns to kill people at a Las Vegas synagogue and o f drawing up plans to attack a bar catering to LGBTQ customers or a fast-food restaurant has been indicted on a federal firearm charge, court records show. Conor Climo’s c ourt-appointed attorney, Paul Riddle, said Tuesday that Climo plans t o plead not g uilty at h is arraignment Wednesday on the o ne-count indictment filed Sept. 1 1 in U.S. District C ourt in Nevada. Climo, 2 3, was a rrested A ug. 8 and r emains in f ederal custody pending arraignment o n a charge of possessing “firearms, specifically d estructive devices” found a t his home. He c ould face up to 10 y ears i n prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

Prosecutors a nd a U.S. magistrate judge who rejected Climo’s b id f or release from custody ahead o f trial s aid h e identifies himself a s a white supremacist and shared with an FBI informant detailed plans t o attack a synagogue near his northwest Las Vegas home. He also compiled a journal with sketches o f attacks o n a downtown L as Vegas LGBTQ b ar or a McDonald’s restaurant, t he judge s aid. Climo was i nterviewed by a KTNV-TV n ews crew in September 2016 a s he p atrolled his neighborhood w earing battle gear and carrying a n assault r ifle, survival knife a nd e xtended- capacity a mmunition magazines. He w as not arrested a t that t ime because Nevada does not prohibit the o pen carrying o f firearms. The FBI reported finding hand-drawn schematics and component p arts of a destructive device at C limo’s home in August, including f lammable liquids, oxidizing agents and circuit boards, a ccording to a criminal complaint. Agents also c onfiscated a n AR-15 assault-style w eapon and a bolt-action r ifle. — A ssociated Press

DIGEST

DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES New U.S. citizens recite the Oath of Allegiance during a naturalization ceremony Tuesday at New York’s Rockefeller Center. Fifty people from 33 countries were sworn in during the gathering held on Citizenship Day. Tuesday was also Constitution Day, which commemorates the signing of the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787.

Politics & the Nation

BY KAYLA EPSTEIN

AND LENA H. SUN

Health officials in California
confirmed that another patient
has d ied of a vaping-related i llness
— at least the seventh reported
death associated with a national
outbreak of serious lung disease
related to vaping or using e-ciga-
rettes.
The unnamed Tulare County
man died of “complications relat-
ed to the use of e-cigarettes,” ac-
cording to the county Health and
Human Services Agency. The 40-
year-old had been in the hospital
for “several weeks” before his
death, said department spokes-
woman Jan Winslow. Winslow
said officials were still investigat-

ing what products he used. Though his death certificate would s tate he died due to vaping, Winslow said the man also had “some complicating illnesses” t hat she could not disclose to The Washington Post. Garrett Vanni, a family member, said the man died on Satur- day. T he m an had been using both nicotine e-cigarettes and THC vape products, Vanni said. Con- trary to what the health department spokeswoman said, the man became ill o nly two days b efore he died, Vanni s aid. He d rove h imself to the hospital. “They put h im on a breathing machine because he was u nable to breathe,” Vanni said. Family members gathered vaping products from the m an’s h ome

and his car. One product they found in his car was a black box with gold lettering and the words “Lucky Charms,” a brand of THC vape pen cartridge, Vanni s aid. The death was announced Monday, the same day Gov. Gavin Newsom ( D) t ook e xecutive action to crack d own o n e-cigarette use i n California, where at least one other vaping-related f atality has been reported, in Los Angeles County. Health officials in Tulare County say they have had three reports of pulmonary illness linked to vaping. The California case came a week after the death of a Kansas resident, which w as believed to be the sixth such death nationwide. Health officials in Indiana, Illi-

nois, Oregon and Minnesota have also reported fatalities from sudden-onset illnesses that officials linked to vaping. Several of these fatal c ases have involved a middle- aged or older person. In the other deaths, the a ge w as not released. At least 380 c ases o f lung i llness have been reported, according to the last available tally from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All reported cases h ad a history of using vape pens, and most of them had reported a history of using e-cigarette products containing THC. Patients reported symptoms of coughing, short- ness of breath, fatigue, and in some instances, vomiting or diar- rhea. The CDC cautions that health

experts do not yet know the cause of these illnesses and have not isolated a single e-cigarette product as the underlying culprit. The agency said there has been no evidence of a common infectious cause, and therefore they suspect that a form of chemical exposure has m ade the patients ill. Officials have rushed to re- spond to a sudden rash of respira- tory illnesses among otherwise healthy people who have used e- cigarettes or other vaping products. Last week, President Trump announced that his administration would move to ban most e- cigarettes. On Tuesday, New York state’s Public Health and Health Plan- ning Council voted to immediately

ban f lavored e-cigarettes. On Monday, Newsom ordered California state officials to “reduce youth vaping consumption” and allocated $20 million for a cam- paign to raise awareness among youth. Newsom lacks the p ower to ban flavored vaping products without legislative action, but he intends to work with state law- makers to do so, the Los Angeles Times reported. “We’ve seen a skyrocket in- crease in the use of these flavored products by our children,” News- om said at a news conference. “A s a father of four, this has been an issue that’s been brought to the forefront of my consciousness.” [email protected] [email protected]

Calif. man’s death is 7th apparently associated with vaping-related illness

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