The embattled administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, stepped down Tuesday afternoon amid a sexual misconduct scandal among her agents, the Justice Department said.

“Michele Leonhart, the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, informed me today of her decision to retire. She will depart the agency in mid-May,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder said in a statement.

Ms. Leonhart has been heavily scrutinized since news broke last month that some DEA agents had engaged in prostitution parties sponsored by Colombian drug cartels. An internal agency report, made public by Congress this month, showed the federal agency merely gave its agents a slap on the wrist for the parties and none were fired.

SEE ALSO: No DEA agents fired for Colombia prostitute parties, internal report reveals

The reports surfaced after an inspector general report was released earlier this year charging that DEA agents attended these sex parties between 2009 to 2012.

Mr. Holder was quick to tout Ms. Leonhart’s achievements in a statement released just hours after reports began circulating that she intended to resign from her position.

“Over the past decade, under her leadership, there have been innumerable instances of the DEA dismantling the most violent and most significant drug trafficking organizations and holding accountable the largest drug kingpins around the world,” he said.

But when White House press secretary Josh Earnest was asked earlier Tuesday whether President Obama still has confidence in her, he wouldn’t answer the question.

Ms. Leonhart had canceled an appearance to receive an award Tuesday from sponsors of the Border Security Expo, a trade show in Phoenix for government contractors.

At the Border Security Expo, Robert Bonner, a former DEA administrator and Customs and Border Protection commissioner, told the audience Ms. Leonhart was being unfairly blamed for agents’ misconduct. He said last week’s House hearing presented a “jumbled and distorted” picture of the agency, much of it untrue.

“Sadly, what we’re witnessing in Washington is ‘gotcha politics’ in action,” he said, adding that Ms. Leonhart lacked authority to fire agents with civil service protections and shouldn’t be blamed for punishments that were perceived as being too light.

The downfall of the embattled administrator attracted the attention of former agents who have long complained about a lack of oversight among the federal law enforcement community.

Michael Levine, a former Department of Justice supervisor who spent years working for the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Office of Professional Responsibility said he was “astounded” by how long lawmakers have turned a blind eye to what he describes as “fraternity boys with guns.”

Oversight and accountability among covert agents has “just absolutely deteriorated,” he said.

Last week, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee called for Ms. Leonhart to step down following a grueling hearing where she endured attack after attack on her inability to rein in what lawmakers are describing as “agents gone wild.”

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, Utah Republican, said Ms. Leonhart had allowed problems at the agency to fester for more than a decade.

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