Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Contact:  http://www.ocregister.com/ 
Pubdate: 4 Sep 98
Author:Stuart Pfeifer-OCR

TEEN WAS STRIPPED FOR WIRE, GIRL SAYS

Testimony: She says the three suspects accused Chad MacDonald of working
for the police,then robbed,beat and killed him.

The killers of teen-age police informant Chad MacDonald strip-searched him
while hunting for a hidden wire and accused him of working for the
police,his girlfriend testified Thursday.

The 17-year-old girl's testimony was the first indication - outside of
accusations by MacDonald's family - that the boy's work for Brea police
could have played a role in his death March 3.

Testifying at a preliminary hearing in Los Angeles County Municipal Court,
the girl explained that the suspects told MacDonald of their suspicions
while searching him at gunpoint at a Norwalk drug house.

The interrogation proceeded for several gruesome hours during which the
Yorba Linda teenagers were beaten with guns, choked with ropes and robbed
of all their possessions, the girl testified.

Judge Stephen Marcus closed the courtroom during the girl's testimony,
citing a state law that allows such restrictions when minors testify about
sexual assault. The Orange County Register is not publishing her name
because she is a minor and a sexual-assault victim. A transcript of the
girl's testimony was made available Thursday evening.

The case attracted national media attention after it was disclosed that
MacDonald had worked as an informant, in one instance buying drugs while
wearing a wire for Brea police in an unsuccessful effort to avoid
prosecution for a drug arrest.

MacDonald's family has sued Brea police, accusing officers of misleading
the teen and his mother to secure his assistance as an informant, a role
they blame for his death.

Last week, the state Legislature passed a bill that imposes new
restrictions, and in some cases prohibits, the use of minors as police
informants.

MacDonald, 17, often visited the house to buy and use methamphetamine, the
girl testified. The couple were smoking methamphetamine with the three
suspects and seemed to be getting along before the atmosphere changed, the
girl said.

"You guys are working for the police," suspect Florence Noriega said ,
according to the girl.

"If I was working for the police, don't you think they would be here by
now," MacDonald responded, according to his girlfriend.

At that point, Noriega and suspects Michael Martinez and Jose Ibarra
threatened the couple with guns, robbed them of their valuables and forced
MacDonald to drive to an ATM machine to try to get more cash, the girl said.

After they returned to the house, Noriega banged the teenagers' heads
together and demanded they come up with $800, the girl testified. She was
then forced to listen as the suspects strangled and beat her bound and
gagged boyfriend. The sounds were so chilling, the girl said, that she
pleaded with her assailants to cover her ears so she wouldn't have to listen.

"I was like, please, I don't want to hear this," the girl testified.

The girl said Ibarra raped her at gunpoint in a bedroom. She then saw
Noriega and Martinez carrying a body from the house, she said.

Police later found MacDonald's body in a south Los Angeles alley. The girl
testified that the three suspects tried to choke her with a rope while
driving her through West Covina.

She fought off the attack in the car, but feared she was going to die when
the assailants forced her into a drainage ditch and began choking her again.

She woke up hours later, alone in the ditch, bleeding from a gunshot wound
to the jaw, and wandered off to find help.

If convicted, the three suspects could face the death penalty.

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Checked-by: Pat Dolan