Pubdate: Wed, 6 Aug 2008
Source: Tallahassee Democrat (FL)
Copyright: 2008 Tallahassee Democrat
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/hdEs6Z0o
Website: http://www.tallahassee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/444
Author: Jennifer Portman, Democrat Senior Writer
Referenced: The Grand Jury report 
http://www.tallahassee.com/legacy/grandjury.pdf
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Rachel+Hoffman (Rachel Hoffman)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?246 (Policing - United States)

TPD OFFICERS IN HOFFMAN CASE PLACED ON LEAVE WITH PAY

The supervisors and lead officer in the botched drug sting that ended
in informant Rachel Hoffman's death have been placed on administrative
leave with pay by the Tallahassee Police Department.

The five officers were placed on leave Monday and will remain so until
a department internal-affairs investigation into Hoffman's death is
complete, Police Chief Dennis Jones said Tuesday afternoon.

TPD spokesman David McCranie said the officers are Capt. Chris
Connell; Lt. Taltha White; Sgt. Rod Looney; Sgt. David Odom; and
Investigator Ryan Pender.

Jones made the decision Monday after receiving the Florida Department
of Law Enforcement's evidence from the Hoffman case and reviewing the
grand jury's findings, McCranie said.

Jones also doubled the number of internal-affairs officers assigned to
the case from the normal three to six, to speed up the
investigation.

Hoffman, 23, was working for police as a confidential informant when
she was killed May 7, after the plan for her to buy drugs and a gun
went awry. Police lost track of her, and her body was found 36 hours
later in Taylor County. Andrea Green, 25, of Perry, and Deneilo
Bradshaw, 23, of Tallahassee, have been indicted in the FSU graduate's
murder.

Connell and White headed the vice unit until June 7. That's when
Police Chief Dennis Jones moved the unit under Criminal Investigations
Division Capt. David Hendry. At that time, Lt. Joani Chase was made
vice supervisor and White was reassigned as a supervisor in the
Administrative Services Division.

In its presentment last week that cited police negligence in Hoffman's
death, a Leon County grand jury reported the vice lieutenant "" White
"" signed off on the flawed buy-bust plan but didn't actually read
it. Grand jurors also said she was in charge of monitoring radio
transmissions during the deal but was conducting a computer audit at
the same and was distracted.

"We believe the command staff was negligent in its review of the
(operation) plan and supervision of the transaction," grand jurors
wrote. "With the exception of the sergeant who remained active in
making decisions as matters developed during the transaction, the
level of supervision was nonexistent."

The Tallahassee Democrat received a tip Tuesday morning that the
officers had been suspended. McCranie would not confirm the
information, saying that facts would be provided in the afternoon. At
3 p.m., he informed the Democrat of a 4:30 p.m. news conference with
Chief Jones.

According to information provided by the department:

# Division commander Connell, with the department for 22 years, was a
vice investigator for about a year and was top man in charge for about
three and a half years.

# White, a 20-year TPD veteran, had been a supervisor for about four
months before Hoffman was killed and had no previous experience in the
vice unit.

# Looney, at TPD for 15 years, worked as a vice investigator for
nearly seven years and had been a vice supervisor for about a year.

# Odom, with 14 years at the department, had been a vice supervisor
for about four months after serving more than six years as a standout
investigator with the unit.

# Pender, who has been with TPD seven years and was Hoffman's main
contact, had been working as a vice investigator for about 18 months.

In their last three annual evaluations, all five officers received the
department's highest marks of "consistently goes beyond" or
"consistently exemplary." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake