More than a decade ago, an agent with the Environmental Protection Agency’s criminal investigation division was working closely with an FBI agent on a hazardous-waste case in Louisiana — too closely, if the official version of events is to be believed.
The EPA agent, Keith Phillips of Kent, Tex., and the female FBI agent, identified only as Agent A, were in pursuit of Hubert Vidrine Jr., a manager at a small refinery plant in western Louisiana, and several others. Vidrine and others were indicted but eventually won dismissal of the charges.
Vidrine subsequently filed a malicious-prosecution suit against the EPA in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. In the course of that suit, Phillips was deposed and was asked, under oath, about his relationship with Agent A. “We’re close friends,” he replied.
Does that fully describe the nature of your relationship, he was asked.
“Yes, it does,” he replied.
Did you have an affair, he was asked.
“No,” Phillips replied.
Yes, the DOJ says in a statement noting that Phillips, 61, has been charged with lying under oath and obstruction of justice.
“The indictment alleges that it was material to the civil lawsuit to determine any potential motives of the criminal investigators in investigating and prosecuting the charges against Vidrine, and that Phillips committed perjury when he testified falsely about the affair and obstructed justice when he provided this false testimony,” the DOJ says. “The indictment further alleges that he then contacted the FBI Special Agent to influence her not to disclose the existence of the affair.”
If convicted, Phillips faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 on the obstruction of justice count and five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 on the perjury count.
