The Officers Club

In Las Vegas, a local DEA agent was arrested this week for soliciting sex with several boys, ages 9-14. Agent Steven Kinney is accused of approaching the boys in shopping malls by throwing rocks with notes attached to them, asking for parking lot rendezvous and various sexual favors. These are real acts of senseless desperation, since one presumes the kids were accompanied by parents: In all three known incidents, the little ones immediately told mom and dad.

The story is big news in Vegas, and will (and obviously should) shock many. But Kinney's apparent pedophilic pursuits don't seem quite so surprising given the moral turpitude of some of the daily exploits of the federal drug enforcement crew. In recent months in California, agents have condemned some of the state's sickest residents to starvation and pain by shutting down medical marijuana co-ops (which are legal under state law).

Moreover, setting the specifics of Kinney's alleged crime aside, law-breaking cops should now be old hat to Sin City's residents. In just the past month, local officers have been arrested for a bevy of high-profile crimes. These include sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl; robbing two slot machine collectors and using a police car for the getaway; and felony drug charges for cocaine, steroids, and an animal tranquilizer.

Does power corrupt? Nah.