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A Houston man and former district attorney’s office investigator was convicted of money laundering and intent to distribute heroin, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced this week.
49-year-old Mohammed Ahmed Kassem, a former investigator with the Waller County District Attorney’s Office, was accused of hiding money in his bulletproof vest and disguising the same heroin in an evidence bag to avoid detection, according to the office.
Kassem escorted sham heroin and cartel drug money across state lines, according to the office. He drove to Louisiana and San Antonio from Houston in an unmarked police car on three separate occasions in which he was paid a total of $31,000.
“When Alex Kassem wore his Waller County peace officer credentials and Waller County-issued firearms while transportation what he thought were drugs in his Waller County-issued vehicle and then accepted what he thought was cartel drug money, he breached the most sacred of trusts— the trust a community places in its law enforcement,” U.S. Attorney Alamdar Hamdani said in a statement.
Kassem defended his actions during his four-day trial by emphasizing that he had authority to commit those crimes. He maintained that he received approval from the Waller County District Attorney to conduct undercover investigations, but his former employer refuted that, according to the office.
U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal, who presided over the trial, set Kassem’s sentencing for June 13. Kassem could face up to life in prison for the heroin trafficking conviction and up to 20 years for money laundering. He could also be ordered to pay up to $10 million in fines.
Previously released on bond, Kassem was taken into custody following the conviction where he will remain pending sentencing.
Kassem was previously indicted in 2021, according to a previous Facebook post from the district attorney’s office. The office announced in that post it would take steps to review any local criminal cases he may have been associated with for veracity and soundness.
“The D.A.’s office is obviously devastated by these allegations, but we are primarily cognizant of our duty to seek justice on behalf of the citizens of Waller County,” according to the district attorney’s office.