TimesLeader.com

DEA agent with local ties is remembered

Chad Michael was one of 10 who died when a helicopter crashed while on a mission in Afghanistan.

By Sherry Long slong@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

Chad Michael was someone who left his mark on the world, but was taken way too soon because he had so much more to offer, a friend said.

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Michael

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Michael, a Drug Enforcement Administration special agent, was one of three DEA agents and seven military members killed Monday when their helicopter crashed after a joint counter-narcotics mission in western Afghanistan.

“It’s a big loss. People like that don’t come by often. He really was ambitious. He wanted to succeed in everything he did. It is a tragic loss for the DEA to lose someone of that caliber and that still had a lot of good years ahead of him,” said Alex Diaz, Michael’s friend from Tampa, Fla.

Michael, 30, is the son of Debbie Hartz and step-son of Dr. Leo M. Hartz, the chief medical officer of Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The Hartzes live in Dallas. Michael, previously of Hughesville, moved to Florida to attend college at St. Leo University.

After Diaz, a communication training supervisor for the Hillsborough County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office, got the news that Michael had died, he had to deliver the heartbreaking news to his wife.

Diaz and his wife become fast friends with Michael in late October 2001 before they were married. Just weeks later, the couple even invited him over for Thanksgiving dinner because Michael had nowhere else to go in the Tampa area. Michael later attended their wedding.

Michael was a “good guy,” career-driven, friendly deputy who loved working the night shift as he always stayed well aware of his surroundings, Diaz said.

“He would always notice things that the rest of us wouldn’t notice and point it out to us,” he said. Diaz was not Michael’s direct supervisor.

Michael always aspired to work as a federal agent. His dreams came true when he joined the DEA’s Miami office in 2004.

Although Michael had a short career at the federal agency, he quickly became an accomplished agent working undercover and making significant international drug busts, said Special Agent in Charge Mark R. Trouville, head of the Florida DEA office.

Trouville went on to praise Michael for his tremendous work ethic – noting he was on the fast track.

One investigation Michael was an integral part of resulted in 14 arrests, 462 kilograms of cocaine, 21 grams of heroin and $500,000 cash seized, Trouville said.

“Most people don’t get to do big cases like he did, just in their first few years. He was barely what we would call a senior agent, he was still a journeyman agent,” Trouville said, adding that Michael won the in Outstanding Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Award in 2007. The award is presented by the U.S. Attorney General’s Office’s southern Florida district office.

Michael left the Miami office late this summer to join the agency’s Foreign-deployed Advisory and Support Teams.

President Barack Obama honored Michael, his comrades and the other military personnel who died when as the president stood at Dover Air Force Base in the pre-dawn hours Thursday watching the bodies be escorted off a military plane as the fallen returned home in flag-draped cases.

“It was a sobering reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices that our young men and women in uniform are engaging in every single day -- not only our troops, but their families as well,” Obama said later after arriving back at the White House.

The Associated Press and The Tampa Tribune contributed to this story.

Sherry Long, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7159.