How an Attractive, Undercover Cop Posed as a Student -- Then Entrapped a Smitten Teen to "Sell"

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/story/154164/how_an_attractive%2C_undercover_cop_posed_as_a_student_--_then_entrapped_a_smitten_teen_to_%22sell%22_her_marijuana/

How an Attractive, Undercover Cop Posed as a Student -- Then Entrapped a Smitten Teen to "Sell" Her Marijuana

Working at the Drug Policy Alliance for the last twelve years I have read and heard countless stories of people having their lives ruined because of our country's cruel war on drugs. Last weekend, the nationally syndicated show This American Life highlighted a story that is so insane, you don't know whether to laugh or puke.

Last year in three high schools in Florida, several undercover police officers posed as students. The undercover cops went to classes, became Facebook friends and flirted with the other students. One 18-year-old honor student named Justin fell in love with an attractive 25-year-old undercover cop after spending weeks sharing stories about their lives, texting and flirting with each other.

One day she asked Justin if he smoked pot. Even though he didn't smoke marijuana, the love-struck teen promised to help find some for her. Every couple of days she would text him asking if he had the marijuana. Finally, Justin was able to get it to her. She tried to give him $25 for the marijuana and he said he didn't want the money -- he got it for her as a present.

A short while later, the police did a big sweep and arrest 31 students -- including Justin. Almost all were charged with selling a small amount of marijuana to the undercover cops. Now Justin has a felony hanging over his head.

[Bozita]

1. Sounds a lot like the setup used on John Sinclair a long time ago

Except they didn't use an attractive female.

[saras]

2. It's against the law to say what I think, but I hope it happens anyways

Some things just don't deserve to move around freely among human beings.

[barbtries]

3. you can hear the radio segment here:

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/457/what-i-did-for-love?act=2

the entire archive of this american life is online and available for free listening. i've been doing it for weeks now since discovering this great resource (via a post on DU, wish i could recall who it was so i could thank that person) for a wonderful radio program: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives
from the very first program in 1995 to the present day. highly recommended

ETA: they totally disrupted this kid's bright future and for what? a little notch on their petty little belt? not a pretty story, and says volumes about unintended consequences and what a failure is "the war on drugs."

i believe as well that he was not served well by his (probably court appointed) attorney. NO WAY he should have to go on through the rest of his life with a felony conviction hanging over his head.

[xchrom]

5. +1

[redqueen]

7. Thanks for that link. nt

[MADem]

8. I would hope he is appealing. nt

[alcibiades_mystery]

4. Heh heh heh

[MADem]

6. If it was a gift, how could they charge him with selling the stuff?

Kids need to pay attention to the TV shows. There's a reason why prostitutes and drug dealers ask the "Are you a cop? Are you sure you are not a cop? I need a yes or no, here," questions on those programs! Even if that kid looks like a student...ya never know!

I inadvertently shut down a regional NIS (now NCIS) "narc" operation in my early years in the service when I observed that a newcomer to my department didn't quite add up. He had been promoted too soon, his service record was full of inconsistencies as well as far too much handwriting in the same hand (this is back in the old days, and his record appeared "reconstructed"--not cleverly done at all), and he knew absolutely nothing about his supposed specialty, to the point where his so-called peers were having to clean up the mistakes he was making on a routine basis. I idly mentioned to my seniors that the guy was such a fuckup that he was either the love child of a flag officer or a narc, and I was saddened that the time to issue a "low quality recruit" report had expired. Next thing ya know, there's a bust going down and young 'uns all over the base were being hauled off in cuffs. I probably cost them many dozens of arrests by making that idle comment, but oh, well

I hope that kid has a good lawyer, he might be able to beat the charges. It smells like entrapment to me. Of course, when bad things happen in JebBushistan, all bets are off. Logic and the rule of law don't seem to rule the day down that way.

[ArtiChoke]

11. Just try and take their picture with your phone...

If they refuse, they're probably a narc. If they don't refuse, put their pic on Facebook, they'll never go under cover again.

[MADem]

12. Ahhh, the 21st Century!

That's the ticket, right there!

[TheWraith]

23. "Are you a cop"

Please don't spread that myth around--it's simply not true. An undercover police officer is in NO WAY required to answer truthfully when asked if they're a police officer. Ever. It's a common myth, made all the more common by Hollywood, but it bears absolutely no relationship to reality.

[MADem]

26. Really? I thought if asked and answered, then entrapment could be posed as a defense.

I take your point about the other stuff, certainly--I found a link that elucidates both your point and mine very nicely:

Entrapment
These types of myths are generally based on the belief that it is illegal for a police officer to entrap a citizen into committing a crime. Following this theory, many people believe that related actions by police, such as lying about their identity, would also be illegal or invalidate a prosecution. While a claim of "entrapment" by police can be used as a defense in a criminal case, it is both uncommon and rarely successful. Additionally, police entrapment itself is not illegal -- just potential cause for a not-guilty verdict.

Loosely defined, entrapment is a situation in which, if not for the actions of the police officer or police informant, the defendant would not have committed the crime. This defense is generally only successful in situations where law enforcement officers create a criminal plan, plant the idea of that plan into an otherwise innocent person's mind, and then instigate the plan for the purpose of prosecuting the suspect.

The mere presentation of an opportunity or request by an officer that an individual commit a crime does not qualify as entrapment. An officer may engage a citizen in conversation and ask to buy an illegal substance -- even if they have no reason to suspect the person of illegal activity.2 They may offer to sell an illegal substance and arrest the buyer after the sale.

Factors Considered
in an Entrapment Defense
The character of the defendant (whether the defendant was more "predisposed" to commit the crime than the ordinary citizen; e.g. having a record of illegal activity of this sort).
Who first suggested the criminal activity.
Whether the defendant engaged in the activity for profit.
Whether the defendant demonstrated reluctance (and not just "no thanks, well ok": more like repeatedly refusing and then eventually, months or years later, giving in).
The nature of the government's inducement (how much did they persuade, threaten, coerce, or harass).

They can go out of their way to help a person to commit a crime. What they can't do, is unduly persuade, threaten, coerce, or harass the person, such that a normally law-abiding citizen would participate in the unlawful action. Unfortunately, even in cases where the government does induce a crime, evidence that the defendant was "predisposed" to committing the crime is likely to undermine an entrapment defense. If the prosecution can show that the defendant agreed to participate too quickly or had a record of similar crimes in the past, the entrapment defense rarely succeeds.5 One example of such a case was U.S. v. Bogart (1986) in which Bogart agreed to sell presidential campaign posters to a police informant. When the informant arrived to purchase the posters, he informed Bogart that his only method of payment was with cocaine. Though Bogart initially refused, he eventually agreed because he needed the proceeds from the sale. He was arrested and his entrapment defense was denied based on his "predisposition" to commit the crime.6

http://www.erowid.org/freedom/police/police_info6.shtml

[Uncle Joe]

9. I couldn't agree more with the conclusion of the OP.

Last edited Fri Feb 17, 2012, 04:19 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.alternet.org/story/154164/how_an_attractive%2C_undercover_cop_posed_as_a_student_--_then_entrapped_a_smitten_teen_to_%22sell%22_her_marijuana/

"The drug war is sick. How much money was wasted by our law enforcement to get these few bags of marijuana "off the streets"? How do these cops look themselves in the mirror? Seducing 18-year-olds to fall in love or pretending to be friends and then tricking them into procuring small amounts of marijuana so they can charge them with felonies is beyond slimy and diametrically opposed to the officers' charge to "serve and protect."

We often hear that we need to fight the drug war to protect the kids. As these despicable examples show, more often the drug war is ruining young people's lives and doing more harm than good."

Tis nothing more than a surrpetitious war against the American People serving to tear down the nation, little by little.

Thanks for the thread, xchrom.

[Scootaloo]

10. Well, it depends on who they're there to "serve and protect"

If you realize they're there for the expansion and betterment of the private prison industry, then they're doing a bang-up job.

[Warren DeMontague]

14. YAY! YAY! I wonder how much this "operation" cost? Who Cares????? SPARE NO EXPENSE!

WOO-HOO! Keep the buckets of taxpayer dollars rolling in! Full time salary for undercover operation? Ka-Ching!$! Associated law enforcement "handlers"? Ka-Ching!$! Expense account? Ka-Ching!$! Trial Costs? Incarceration Costs? Ka-CHING!$!

IT'S ALL WORTH IT, TO KEEP PEOPLE FROM SMOKING TEH POT!

WOO-HOO, DRUG WAR GRAVY TRAIN COMING THROUGH!!!! WOOT WOOT!

WHO SAYS THE GOVERNMENT DOESN'T CREATE JOBS?????


PAY UP, SUCKERS!!$$!!!

[xchrom]

16. That was the 1st thing I wondered - how much? Nt

[Warren DeMontague]

22. undercover cop: "These kids need to wake up"

yes, they need to 'wake up' to the fact that there's gonna be an endless rich gravy train river of cash for drug warriors to bust people for smoking a relatively harmless plant, paid for by people whom have lost their jobs and are underwater on their mortgages, who are going to look at crumbling highways and collapsing bridges and go "Yes, Yes, $60 Billion a year to throw chemo sick cancer grannies and honor students in prison for weed is a pittance and well worth it! Need any more? I see your Billion dollar DEA helicopter has a scratch! Here, let me get my checkbook!!!"

Yeah, someone needs to wake up, that's fo' sho'.

[SomethingFishy]

39. Remember Tommy Chong? 10 MILLION to bust him..

9 months in jail for selling bongs on the internet and he was entrapped as well. 10 million bucks. Money well spent eh?

[RebelOne]

15. A similar thing happened to my niece.

She was working as a cocktail waitress in Hollywood, FL. Some guy came in and flirted with her. She went out with him and he badgered her to try and get him some kind of drug. I am not sure what it was. But she finally found it and gave it to him. She didn't sell it to him, but he was an narc and arrested her for dealing. Fortunately, she did not get any prison time, but she has a felony charge on her record.

[EFerrari]

17. How is this not stalking in addition to entrapment?

Sick. I hope this kid has supporters with deep pockets and good lawyers.

[Initech]

19. Seriously - if I were that kid I'd sue the crap out of that police department for wrongful arrest.

And this is more proof the bullshit war on drugs needs to end now.

[EFerrari]

21. I hope his parents have really cool heads.

WTF, we're paying the police to prey on our kids?

[Downtown Hound]

18. An older woman seduces a younger man to buy drugs

If anybody else had done this, they would be charged with a crime.

[raouldukelives]

20. What is the endgame here?

I don't know how much more obvious the disdain for the meek & powerless shown by our justice system can get. They may as well just toss bags of drugs at people and yell "Catch!" and then bust em for possession.
Meanwhile you'll never hear about the undercover officer posing as a Colombian drug smuggler and greasing hands to get a bank to launder a few hundred million for him. Or the officer pretending to be an executive for a major corporation dropping insider trading tips for cash.

[Warren DeMontague]

27. Yeah, well, posing as the columbian drug smuggler is dangerous.

Throwing an honor student in prison for a couple years over a dime bag is all in good fun, and lucrative to boot!


Who says there are no jobs???

[Warren DeMontague]

28. Yes, and while we're at it, why don't we spend $60 Billion a year to stop Jaywalking, too?

I mean, it's against the law, therefore it must be TOTALLY fucking reasonable to hire phalanxes of undercover operatives to stake out street corners and sidewalks. How about we quadruple your property tax bill.. shit, why not increase it by a factor of 10... so that we can pay people to stand all day on the side of the street and try to talk other people into crossing outside the little white lines... Then, when they do, we can have SWAT teams swoop in at a cost of several million dollars an hour, arrest them, we can fill up the court dockets prosecuting them, and then we can build all sorts of new prisons to house them, again, at YOUR expense.

What???? They were breaking TEH LAW! They should have known better!

Now, please, have your wallet ready, because this is gonna get expensive. But I'm sure it's WORTH IT!


WOO HOOOOOOO!!!

[MadHound]

36. Apparently you had no youth

You were never young and dumb, willing to do something stupid in order to impress somebody you were desperately, hormonally attracted to.

A shame that you never had a youth, a shame to live a life so old.

A shame that you don't understand what entrapment is either.

[SomethingFishy]

40. Are you fucking serious?

A 25 year old woman seduces a high school kid and then talks him into getting her some pot and you think busting the kid was righteous?

Agree or not.. Well I don't fucking agree, you want your tax dollars spent on shit like this? You want the cops chasing kids in high school for getting high? Yeah good plan, while people are being robbed, raped, and murdered, you think the cops should spend their time entrapping high school kids?

Sucker.

[Warren DeMontague]

42. I like my idea of paying people to stand, full time, on the side of the road: "C'mon! Cross!"

The War On Jaywalking Must Be Won!

And Financed! Well,

Mostly Financed! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[Saving Hawaii]

44. You're doing it wrong.

The whole point of the war on jaywalking isn't to put boots on the ground. It's to build high-tech surveillance systems and helicopters and tanks!

[Downtown Hound]

45. LOL. There's always gotta be one in every thread...

I would say thank you for your input, but that would be a lie.

[Canuckistanian]

46. He should stick to church-oriented activities

And flossing would be prudent.

[The Doctor.]

48. I'm going to chime in with everyone else here,

to tell you that your post represents a level of 'tone-deaf' boulders seldom experience.

This was bribery and entrapment. They coerced the student to engage in a criminal activity that he would not have otherwise committed.

[Progression]

25. This is a gross entrapment

I do not see any justice in this, just deliberate corruption of a teen by baiting him with sex. This is more like an abuse of authority.

[onethatcares]

29. the article does not list the schools or the location

so you can bet this is ongoing in every county of pricksnot land.

Oh yeah, this is why he's wanting to use an executive order to privatise the prisons.

Hell, the corporations will get paid by the head for every inmate they have so why not generate some

income. If they're honor students or street urchins the pay is the same.


I gotta have a long talk with my grandson and tell him to start making plans to leave this country and go

somewhere sane.

[Saving Hawaii]

30. Some concerned citizen a number of years ago told ABC that the kitchen staff at a brewery were...

smoking the devil's lettuce and probably selling it on the side too. Lagunitas BrewCo. Needless to say, after several weeks of trying to buy marijuana at the brewery's weekly party they'd come up empty-handed. Sure, lots of people had given them free weed, but nobody had been willing to sell them anything.

Eventually they raided the brewery and arrested 3 employees who'd given them free marijuana. The brewery had its license suspended, charges were filed. Then the ridiculousness of the situation became apparent, the brewery had its license reinstated and all charges were dropped. The brewery eventually made a beer in honor of the "St. Patrick's Day Massacre" (yeah, they got raided on St. Paddy's) called Undercover Investigation Shutdown Ale. Probably one of their best beers.

[HangOnKids]

33. Hey That's My Buddies Brew, Tony MaGee, Is The Owner He Is Right Down The Road In Petaluma

Good shit. Up the road we have Pliny the Elder by Russian River Brewery! Beer nirvana.

[Saving Hawaii]

35. You've also got Bear Republic next door. Racer 5.

[originalpckelly]

31. Wasn't this an episode of that old show Boston Public?

[cyberswede]

32. It was definitely in an ep of "Man Undercover" starring David Cassidy!

David Cassidy: Man Undercover was a spin off series from a two hour "Police Story" movie. The movie was highly rated and earned David an Emmy nomination. NBC thought that maybe David was ready for a new series since he hadn't worked on TV since "The Partridge Family". David played David Shay, a young married undercover cop. It started on in November of 1978, lasted for 10 episodes before being canceled. It costarred Simon Oakland, who you may recall played much harried newspaper editor Tony Vincenzo.on Kolchak; The Night Stalker series with Darrin McGavin.

[Marrah_G]

34. My youngest son would easily fall for that

I wonder how she can sleep at night knowing she has damaged a young man's future by hanging a drug charge on his record?

[MadHound]

37. Lots of guys that age would fall for that,

That's what the cops were counting on, youth, hormones, and attention from an attractive "peer".

[Saving Hawaii]

41. I would've fallen for that. And I don't smoke pot. Tried it twice.

Shoot, I'd probably still fall for that today.

Can we all just turn ourselves in for felonious intent to sell small amounts of pot to hot undercover cops and wreck the system?

[pokerfan]

38. That's Some Damn Fine Police Work, Lou.

[Saving Hawaii]

43. I wonder if 'Naomi' was as smoking hot as this undercover detective.

Question: Which disturbs you more?

[The Doctor.]

47. Oh my God. If there's a hell, that piece of shit cop will burn.

If this were my kid, I'd sue the living hell out of everyone and make sure this horrible tactic of coercion was exposed under very bright lights.

Using sex to get someone to do something illegal is coercion.

Then, that POS cop would have to hope my son received justice because I can think of all manner of ways to put someone through hell without a snowball's chance of recourse.