Drug dealer who bribed DEA agent gets 11+ years in prison

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A convicted California drug trafficker who paid bribes to a corrupt Drug Enforcement Administration agent has been sentenced by a Florida judge to more than 11 years in federal prison. U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg said in a news release Tuesday that a judge in Jacksonville, Florida, imposed the sentence on 37-year-old Francisco Gonzalez Benitez of Orange, California. Gonzalez Benitez pleaded guilty to drug and money laundering charges in April. Prosecutors say Gonzalez Benitez also had worked as an informant for DEA Agent Nathan Koen and paid the agent thousands of dollars in bribes. Koen also was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to a bribery charge.