A special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is under investigation for allegedly stealing and selling black market cigarettes obtained by ATF agents during a sting operation, the Daily Press of Virginia reported.
The agent, Clifford D. Posey of the ATF’s Norfolk office, came under suspicion while working last year with Hampton police officers on an undercover task force as the officers were running sting operations, according to court documents cited by the newspaper.
The police officers said they discovered that Posey was having repeated contact without their knowledge with a man whom they had been investigating.
A sworn affidavit by J. Brian Burnett, a special agent with the Justice Department’s Inspector General’s office, says Posey moved cases of ATF cigarettes to his personal storage unit and then had a buyer go there to get the cases and leave the money.
Posey allegedly stole tens of thousands of dollars worth of ATF-owned cigarettes, sold many on the black market to people eager to avoid hefty federal, state and local taxes and pocketed the cash, the newspaper reported.
Burnett said in the affidavit that Posey “used his position as an ATF Special Agent to facilitate the embezzlement of property belonging to the United States.”
While he has yet to be charged, a federal search warrant affidavit indicates an active inquiry into the allegations, the newspaper reported.
Posey, who has worked as a federal special agent for about 10 years, was suspended without pay in early December.
