Feds to probe DEA agent over fake Facebook page

The Justice Department is reviewing the actions of a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) official who created a phony Facebook page in the name of a woman who had been arrested for her suspected involvement in a drug ring.

The agent also used photos on the Facebook account that he had obtained from the woman’s phone — which had been seized by law enforcement.

The DEA agent who created the account used it to pose as the woman, Sondra Arquiett, and interact with suspected criminals.

{mosads}Arquiett, is now suing the Department of Justice for co-opting her identity online. In an initial court filing, the government defended its actions in the case. The lawsuit and the government’s response were first reported by BuzzFeed News on Monday.

On Tuesday, less than a day after news of the fake Facebook account broke, the DOJ announced that it was reviewing the case.

The Facebook page was also no longer visible because the site said it violated its “community standards.”

In a court filing posted by BuzzFeed, the government argued that Arquiett had implicitly given authorities permission to use information from her cell phone in other investigations.

The filing claimed that she “implicitly consented by granting access to the information stored in her cell phone and by consenting to the use of that information to aid in ongoing criminal investigations.”