Pubdate: Sat, 07 Feb 2004
Source: Burlington Times-News (NC)
Contact:  2004 The Times-News Publishing Company
Website: http://www.thetimesnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1822
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

STUDENTS TALK ABOUT UNDERCOVER OFFICERS

Maybe it's kids being bold after the fact, but some students at Cummings 
High School in Burlington say they knew who the undercover police officer 
at their school was.

They say she was a white girl named Cindy. She was always asking other 
students about where to buy drugs. To get sympathy, she told everyone that 
her grandmother had died.

They say she went to a party and even spent the night at students' houses.

Some students at local schools where 50 students were arrested on drug 
charges this week say that they knew there was an undercover officer in 
their ranks. Others were as shocked as many parents when the arrests were 
made Wednesday morning.

Joe Bodenheimer says he shared a trigonometry class with Cindy but didn't 
suspect anything. Kelly Deese, another student, said that Cindy would dress 
provocatively and play easy to get.
"She flaunted it," Deese said.

She thinks the boys who were charged at Cummings were attracted to Cindy 
and let it cloud suspicions that she was a cop.

At Williams High School in Burlington, most students said they didn't know 
there was a mole at the school. Others said there was a girl who just 
didn't fit.

"I saw a girl and she wasn't old or anything, maybe 20 or something, but I 
thought 'What is she doing here?'" said Irving Zavaleta, 17.

April Smith, 14, described a girl who looked like she could be in her 20s. 
She didn't come to class very much or do any work.

Heather Price, 15, didn't know who the officer was. But she's glad that 
police went after the drugs.
"They're jeopardizing other students' lives by doing it," Price said.

At Eastern Alamance High School, students think it was a boy who showed up 
in school last fall. He was supposed to be 17 but some say he looked older.

"He just looked like a regular student," said Jessica Burris, a 16-year old 
student at Eastern. "He didn't look like a goody-boy, but he didn't look 
like a troublemaker."

Some students say the rumor mill has stirred up at Williams. There's talk 
that other students and even teachers are undercover too.

Casey Eggleston, 16, said the drug trade has slowed down.

"People are going to be more careful," he said. "There's not going to be 
drugs sold at school as much because the people who were stupid enough to 
bring them to school got caught."
Another Williams student, 15-year-old Jon Tate, has some disturbing news.

"There's a lot of people left," he said. "They didn't catch hardly anybody."
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