News Release [print-friendly version]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 12, 2008
Erin Mulvey
Public Information Officer
212 337-2906

DEA Agent Impersonator Sentenced to 11 Years in State Prison

JUN 12 -- (Manhattan, NY) - John P. Gilbride, the Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Office of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration ("DEA") and New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan announced today that Tony Clanton, who impersonated a Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent during the commission of armed robberies and burglaries in Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan, was sentenced to 11 years in state prison followed by five years post-release supervision yesterday by Judge Bonnie Wittner. The defendant pleaded guilty to Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree on May 27, 2008.

DEA Special Agent in Charge stated, “This joint investigation was successful in identify, arresting and prosecuting a violent felon. Clanton’s illegal actions of posing as a law enforcement officer and terrorizing households has landed him back in jail and off the streets of New York City.”

Clanton, a Staten Island resident, was apprehended at the end of an investigation by the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force (NYDETF) REDRUM group - which is comprised of agents and officers of the DEA, New York Police Department and the New York State Police as well as the NYC Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office and New York City Police Department Precinct Detective Units. Throughout this investigation, five home invasions where the defendant posed as a DEA agent or a law enforcement officer were recorded. At the time of his arrest on this case, Clanton, who had prior violent convictions, was on federal probation for shooting a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent during a robbery. A February 2007 search at his home at 755 Narrows Road led to the recovery of narcotics, three loaded guns, 300 rounds of ammunition DEA and other law enforcement credentials, bullet proof vests, scanners, handcuffs and identification papers from robbery victims.