Pubdate: Wed, 20 Nov 2013
Source: Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA)
Copyright: 2013 The Press-Enterprise Company
Contact: http://www.pe.com/localnews/opinion/letters_form.html
Website: http://www.pe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/830
Author: Sarah Burge

BOY USED AS 'BAIT' IN DRUG STING SUES SCHOOL DISTRICT

Temecula Valley School District Is Again Named a Defendant After
Officials Use a Special Needs Child to Help Nab a Student Dealer

The mother of a Temecula middle school student has sued the school
district, alleging her 14-year-old son was recruited by an assistant
principal to pose as "bait" in an on-campus drug sting, despite her
objections.

The incident was in December 2012 and the allegations came to light
after the mother filed a claim against the district in May.

The woman said school officials' actions put her son in a dangerous
position, and the fallout from his involvement in the drug bust took a
toll on her entire family. She said her son had been labeled a
"snitch" by other students.

The boy, who is in special education because he has a learning
disability, has been repeatedly threatened with violence, according to
the suit, filed Nov. 5 in Riverside Superior Court.

The Press-Enterprise is not identifying the student - who was in the
eighth grade at the time - or the middle school because the boy's
parents fear for his safety.

Melanie Norton, a spokeswoman for the Temecula Valley Unified School
District, said the district's policy is to refrain from commenting on
pending litigation.

This is the second lawsuit filed against the district over the past
month involving a special education student and drug stings in schools.

The parents of a Chaparral High School student with autism, who was
accused of selling marijuana last year to an undercover Riverside
County sheriff's deputy, sued in October. The parents said district
officials authorized the undercover sting and allowed their son to be
hounded by the deputy even though they knew he suffered from serious
disabilities.

The latest suit accuses school officials of "a blatant act of
recklessness and child endangerment" in carrying out what it describes
as an "informal and ill-conceived sting."

According to the complaint, the school administrators, who had had no
apparent law enforcement background, "concocted the scheme on their
own" with no support from officers.

The boy's mother said previously that an assistant principal arranged
to have her son help catch a fellow student who was suspected of
selling marijuana on campus. The assistant principal instructed the
boy to ask the student for marijuana and said she would secretly watch
the transaction.

When the boy went home that day, he told his mother and stepfather
about it. The whole thing sounded so outrageous that, at first, she
thought he was joking, the mother said.

By then, the boy had already asked his classmate to sell him the
marijuana, she said.

The mother said she called the school that day. The assistant
principal told her that they needed her son's help to catch a student
believed to be selling drugs.

"I said, 'No, absolutely not. That's not my family's problem ... Don't
you involve my son,'" the mother recalled.

Nevertheless, she said, the operation went ahead as planned the next
day. The assistant principal swooped in as the student presented
marijuana to her son outside the school, the mother said.

Afterward, she said, school officials called the Riverside County
Sheriff's Department.

Sheriff's officials confirmed that a 13-year-old student was arrested
that day on suspicion of possession of marijuana on school grounds. A
school official had called to report a student was found with
marijuana, but the police report did not include details about how the
drugs were discovered, sheriff's officials said.

According to the complaint, the boy was later harassed, hounded and
threatened physically and verbally by friends of the student, who was
expelled.

Court papers say the mother hopes, in filing the suit, to preclude
district officials from using children in stings without their
parents' consent.

The complaint does not specify a dollar amount of damages.
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