An Ivy-League educated lawyer with the Internal Revenue Service has been arrested on federal charges of conspiring to distribute the illegal drug methamphetamine, authorities said Wednesday.

Jack Vitayanon, a Washington, D.C., resident who is an attorney in the IRS's Office of Professional Responsibility, allegedly conspired with others in Arizona and Long Island, New York, "to distribute methamphetamine" since mid-2014, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn.

"The defendant — a federal attorney working for the IRS's Office of Professional Responsibility — broke bad and supplemented his income by selling distribution quantities of methamphetamine," said U.S. Attorney Robert Capers.

The phrase "broke bad" refers to hit television show "Breaking Bad," which depicted high school chemistry teacher Walter White becoming a meth manufacturer to make money after receiving a diagnosis of cancer.

The Office of Professional Responsibility's mission is to ensure that tax practitioners, preparers and others in the tax system "adhere to professional standards and follow the law," according to the IRS's website. Vitayanon's LinkedIn page, which says he has worked at the IRS for nearly five years, details how he has conducted investigations of attorneys, accountants and IRS agents "based on reports of suspected misconduct."

Vitayanon, 41, was in custody in Washington as of Wednesday afternoon after his arrest. He has yet to appear before a federal judge there.

Vitayanon's LinkedIn page says that he is also an adjunct professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington.

He graduated from Dartmouth in 1997 with a bachelor's degree, and got his law degree from Columbia University. He also holds a master's of law degree in taxation from New York University School of Law. Vitayanon previously worked at the prestigious Debevoise & Plimpton firm in New York City, and a small boutique tax firm.