Pubdate: Thu, 21 Mar 2002
Source: Palm Beach Post (FL)
Copyright: 2002 The Palm Beach Post
Contact:  http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/333
Authors: Kathleen Chapman, Nirvi Shah, Palm Beach Post Staff Writers

OFFICER'S UNDERCOVER 'SCHOOLWORK' NETS 16 ARRESTS

PORT ST. LUCIE -- An undercover St. Lucie County Sheriff's deputy in his 
mid-20s attended two Port St. Lucie high schools for the past six months, 
struggling through algebra, going to parties and gathering information that 
led to the arrest of 16 students Wednesday, most on drug charges.

Sheriff Ken Mascara said the undercover case, named Operation Safe Kid, was 
the first of its kind in St. Lucie County and will expand to other district 
schools. He initiated the program last summer after hearing parents 
complain that kids at local schools "were doing everything but learning."

With a fictitious address and law enforcement officers posing as parents, 
the deputy registered for his senior year at Port St. Lucie High at the 
beginning of the school year as a transfer student, then moved to St. Lucie 
West Centennial High after the holiday break.

St. Lucie County schools Superintendent Bill Vogel was the only district 
official who knew the deputy's identity -- teachers, counselors, even 
principals all believed he was a real student. He took African-American 
history, pottery, P.E. and algebra, Mascara said, relying on other deputies 
to help him with frustrating math problems.

"The algebra was really kicking his butt," Mascara said.

The unnamed deputy, a convincing-looking 18, hung out with students during 
and after school, carefully documenting the classmates who sold him 
marijuana, ecstasy and cocaine.

At Centennial, a 17-year-old student from Port St. Lucie led the deputy to 
an off-campus meeting with James Emery Clark, 23, of 365 Airoso Blvd., who 
offered to sell him a.38-caliber pistol with its serial number scratched 
off. Clark was arrested Wednesday on drug and weapons charges, authorities 
said.

Teams of deputies went to the two schools Wednesday morning, where 
administrators quietly pulled the suspects from class and walked them to 
conference rooms. They were told they could call their parents and were 
notified of the charges against them, which included possession of ecstasy, 
unlawfully filling a prescription, sale and delivery of cocaine, and 
cultivation of marijuana.

Sixteen students were arrested, all charged with at least one felony, and 
deputies were looking for three more Wednesday night.

"I think they were all in shock," Chief Deputy Garry Wilson said.

But the charges, which reflect crime patterns school resource officers have 
seen for years, were not news to anyone in law enforcement or the schools.

"I am disappointed, but not really surprised," Centennial Principal James 
Sullivan said.

His school reported 30 incidents of alcohol, drugs and tobacco on campus 
during the past school year. Port St. Lucie High reported 69.

Principals told teachers at the end of the school day Wednesday and sent 
letters home with students explaining Operation Safe Kid and that the 
schools were selected randomly from the district's five high schools.

The letter asked parents to talk with their children about the consequences 
of illegal activities.

Sullivan said he hopes the sheriff's office will continue placing 
undercover deputies in the schools without notifying school officials. They 
can help keep students safe by alerting authorities when they hear the 
first rumors of possible violence, he said.

Students had mixed reactions to the disguised deputy.

"I thought it was a good idea because they caught a lot of people," Port 
St. Lucie High freshman Timothy Clinton said on his way home from school. 
Students know there are problems with drugs on campus, he said.

But student Maritza Aguilera disagreed, saying that even though the 
deputies have to catch offenders, doing so secretly could violate students' 
trust.

"It's kind of like an invasion of privacy," she said. "Maybe one of your 
best friends, would be like, an undercover working for the school or 
something."

Of the 16 students arrested Wednesday, three from Port St. Lucie are over 
18: James Edward Kumas, charged with possession and sale of MDMA, also 
known as ecstasy; Joe Catalano, on the same charges; and John Conrad 
Goodbred, charged with sale and delivery of marijuana.

Clark was the only non-student arrested.

Vogel said he hopes the revelation that students have been mingling with a 
deputy will inspire a healthy sense of paranoia. The belief that any 
student could be an agent of the sheriff's office will make them more 
reluctant to deal drugs, he said.

Mascara was especially proud of the deputy's endurance, working long hours 
to perform two jobs, one as a student, one as a deputy.

"Let's face it, high school was tough enough the first time around," Wilson 
said.

Even so, the deputy did well enough in his classes, Mascara said.

"He was passing everything the last time we got a report card."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom