WASHINGTON — D.C. government employee Darrell Pope is accused of selling heroin and fentanyl outside of his job.
The FBI executed a search warrant at the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs Tuesday.
Agents arrested 51-year old Pope outside the office. They found 30 grams of what appeared to be fentanyl on him.
A search of his home in Clinton, Maryland turned up one ounce of fentanyl, a scale and three guns.
According to federal court records, Pope was spotted on FBI surveillance and through an undercover operation selling the drugs outside of the DCRA on eight different occasions since August.
The months-long sting between the FBI and the Prince William County Police Department followed a Woodbridge drug dealer who allegedly worked with Pope to sell the drugs in D.C. According to prosecutors, Pope sold 87 grams of the drug at a street cost of $8,700.
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Our WUSA9 news partners at the Washington Post report that Pope worked for DCRA since 2016 making a salary of nearly $73,000.
As a ‘plans review coordinator’ with the agency, Pope was responsible for initially reviewing permits for development and construction projects in D.C.
WUSA9 has obtained a letter sent to DCRA employees by new Director Ernest Chrappah who came on board to clean up the troubled agency. In his letter, Director Chrappah reassured employees the FBI’s “search warrant is not related to any agency operations.”
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D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson who has long advocated to break up the agency released a statement saying, “This is an isolated incident involving an individual employee and is not reflective of the agency or its issues.”
Pope’s wife, who also works at DCRA, was named in court documents but has not been charged with a crime. The Washington Post reports they have both been placed on administrative leave.
Sixty-one-year old Ronald Gorham, of D.C., is accused of supplying Pope with the drugs. DCRA is located at 1100 4th Street, NW just blocks from the Amidon-Bowen Elementary School.