Former FBI agent charged with drug tampering

Fueled by a dangerous addiction to prescription painkillers, a former FBI agent abused heroin from his own drug investigations and in the process bungled dozens of cases involving suspected drug traffickers in multiple states. Matthew Lowry, 33,  formerly a special agent with the agency’s Washington field office, tampered with hundreds of grams of heroin seized during drug raids in 2013 and 2014. According to charging documents filed in federal court in D.C.,  Lowry would keep the drugs hidden in his car for weeks or months on end, and use them periodically. Lowry will plead guilty to sixty-four charges of obstruction of justice, heroin possession and conversion of property, attorney Robert Bonsib said. Prosecutors say that Lowry will face at least seven years in prison. In each of the twenty incidents involving evidence tampering, Lowry would remove small amounts of heroin from the evidence packages to self-medicate for a long-standing health issue known as ulcerative colitis. The investigation into Lowry began after he overdosed on heroin in his FBI vehicle on September 29. A spokesman with the FBI’s Washington field office refused to comment on the case. The investigation into Lowry’s misconduct was instigated by the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General, with assistance from the FBI. It is being prosecuted by federal attorneys in Pennsylvania after prosecutors from the District were recused from the case.