Agents from Homeland Security Investigations raided the Northwest Washington home of a Senate staffer at approximately 6 a.m. Thursday morning, in a drug bust prompted by Customs and Border Protection officers in Ohio, who intercepted a 1.1-kilogram package of gamma-Butyrolactone, or GBL, bound for D.C.  

Fred W. Pagan, who has worked for Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., since October 2000, allegedly confessed to ordering the GBL, a Schedule 1 controlled drug, from a business in China, and admitted he knew it was illegal. According to court documents filed in U.S. District Court, Pagan also admitted he had received three prior shipments of the drug. Agents also uncovered 181.5 grams of methamphetamine in a plastic bag that Pagan stated he received from California. Pagan allegedly stated he planned to distribute both the GBL and the meth “in exchange for sexual favors,” according to the documents.  

Cochran spokesman Chris Gallegos said in an email to the Washington City Paper the senator was told Thursday that one of his staffers had been arrested, but hadn’t seen the more detailed charges filed in courts. Gallegos did not immediately respond to an email on Friday.  

According to Legistorm, Pagan works as a personal assistant and office administrator. The Plymouth, Mich., native has also worked as a staffer on the Senate Appropriations Committee, which Cochran chairs, and the Senate Agriculture Committee, which Cochran previously chaired.  

The 114th: CQ Roll Call’s Guide to the New Congress


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