Pubdate: Tue, 13 May 2008
Source: Tampa Tribune (FL)
Page: 1, Front Page
Copyright: 2008 The Tribune Co.
Contact: http://www.tbo.com/news/opinion/submissionform.htm
Website: http://www.tampatrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/446
Author: Josh Poltilove and Rat Reyes, The Tampa Tribune
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Rachel+Hoffman

POLICE DEFEND INFORMANT'S USE

Before the drug deal that led to her death went down, confidential
informant Rachel Hoffman called investigators to tell them the
location of the meeting had changed.

Investigators explicitly told her to stay at the park location set up
by narcotics officers, Tallahassee police spokesman David McCranie
said Monday, Instead, he said, Hoffman hung up.

Police never saw her alive after Wednesday. The body of the
23-year-old, a graduate of Countryside High School in Clearwater, was
found early Friday in rural Taylor County, southeast of Tallahassee.
Her funeral is today.

Tallahassee police Monday defended their use of Hoffman as a
confidential informant, even as criticism of their decision mounted.
Family and friends have said police put a woefully unprepared young
woman into a dangerous situation.

The Florida attorney general's office will review the events leading
to Hoffman's death, including the police department's policies on
informants, Police Chief Dennis Jones said, according to The
Tallahassee Democrat.

"We had an investigator telling her not to leave, to stay where you
are," McCranie said. "The safety of our citizens and our confidential
informants is paramount. But she hung the phone up, and we had no more
conversation with her, and that ultimately led to her murder."

Hoffman violated protocol when she left the location secured by police
for the deal, McCranie said.

The two men she met with, Deneilo Bradshaw, 23, and Andrea Green, 25,
have since been arrested in connection with Hoffman's disappearance
and death.

Hoffman Arrested On Drug Charges

The undercover operation began when Hoffman agreed to work with police
after being arrested on several drug charges, including possession of
more than 20 grams of marijuana and possession with intent to sell
ecstasy.

Hoffman appeared to make a good informant because she was 23, mature
and an intelligent college graduate who police thought would follow
directions weE, McCranie said.

She was the one who suggested to police that they investigate Green
and Bradshaw, McCranie said.

Hoffman agreed to buy 1,500 ecstasy pills, 2 ounces of cocaine or
crack cocaine and a gun as part of the police investigation, The
Tallahassee Democrat reported.

Johnny Devine, Hoffman's attorney, said police should have spoken with
him.

Legal counsel and the State Attorney's Office weren't consulted when
Hoffman became a confidential informant. Police don't routinely speak
with the state attorney's office about such things unless the arrest
violates a person's probation, McCranie said.

He also said Tallahassee police don't need to pressure anyone into
becoming an informant, because so many people offer to do so after
they have been arrested.

'A Lamb To Slaughter'

But Hoffman's friends and family said she wasn't the kind of person
who should have been asked to help build a case against dangerous people.

Friend Ed Sonnenschein of Tallahassee said Hoffman might have sold
marijuana but that she was a caring person who didn't deserve to die.

"It's tragic that the police sent a lamb to slaughter," said
Sonnenschein, 52. "Rachel liked to act like she was this and that, but
if the cops bought her act that she was mature enough to handle it,
they're stupider than I thought."

Friend Carlton Lahmann said Hoffman was a small-time drug dealer who
never dealt with cocaine or guns.

Hoffman, a recent graduate of Florida State University who majored in
psychology, planned to pursue a career in the culinary arts, said
Lahmann, 34.

He said he talked with Hoffman when she was considering being an
informant.

"She just had to rat someone out to save herself from going to jail
for a long time," he said. "Of course, she was scared. If you've ever
met Rachel, she's mentally strong, very bright. But she's very dainty,
a very fragile girl. She's not someone you would send in to bust a
couple of thugs."

Mike Weiss, Hoffman's stepfather, said he wants police to stop saying
Hoffman broke protocol He asked how Hoffman could understand how
important protocol is and how an untrained civilian could understand
how to protect herself in such a situation.

"The reality is, untrained civilians of any age should not be put in
that position by a police force," he said. "They took a 23-year-old
relatively naive person and put her in a life-threatening situation."
Hoffman's mother, Margie Weiss, said she is forming a foundation to
push for a requirement for confidential informants to seek legal
advice before consenting to undercover work. It also would work to get
marijuana convictions decriminalized.

"Her death will make history," she said. "It's a great loss. The only
way I can make sense of it is by now having her memory live on."

So far, few details have been , released on what happened after
Hoffman-hung up the phone.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will serve as the lead
agency in the homicide portion of the investigation because the case
crosses several jurisdictional lines.

Other agencies will be involved as well, and investigators are
continuing to gather evidence, FDLE spokesman Phil Kiracofe said.

Hoffman's funeral will be at 11 a.m. today at Temple Ahavat Shalom,
1575 Curlew Road, Palm Harbor.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake