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Many people accused of crimes come up with unusual defenses and alibis, but one sad-faced man now imprisoned at Rikers Island has offered a novel one. He says he was working as an undercover operative and committed a home-invasion robbery in 2004 with the full knowledge and approval of the United States Drug Enforcement Agency. The suspect, Juan Medina, currently on trial in State Supreme Court in the Bronx, was arrested after first waiting for the police to arrive. They found a .38-caliber revolver, two .38-caliber bullets and three stolen cellphones in his jacket pocket. The D.E.A. has acknowledged that Mr. Medina, 24, was under contract as an informant. But the agency has not come to his aid, and is, in fact, helping prosecute him on charges of burglary, robbery and criminal possession of a weapon stemming from the robbery at a Bronx apartment. If convicted, he could be sentenced to 25 years in prison. Last week, Joseph Mercurio, a D.E.A. special agent, testified that neither he nor anyone else at the agency knew that Mr. Medina and the drug gang he was trying to infiltrate had been preparing to commit a crime. Mr. Medina has said that he had spoken to either Mr. Mercurio -- whom he knew only as "Joe," or to Mr. Mercurio's partner, Detective Therone Eugene, a k a "T.J." -- a few hours before the bungled crime, telling them that the gang was casing an apartment. "I always told them what I was going to do," Mr. Medina said during an interview at Rikers Island before his trial started. "I was in the wrong place at the wrong time." Mr. Medina, who had no previous criminal record, said he became involved with the D.E.A. in the fall of 2004, a few months after his father was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on drug conspiracy charges. He said he was told that if he helped the agency, his father might win an early release. (He asked that his father not be identified.) "One of the agents who arrested my father said, 'If you know one of his friends who he used to be with, you could help us,' " he said. "They said, 'You could get paid and you could also get your father less time.' " Mr. Medina said he signed a contract even though he told agents he knew little about his father's criminal associates. Mr. Medina said one of the agents told him, "Don't worry, we're going to take care of your father."Mr. Medina said he interpreted that to mean that his father would get a reduced prison sentence. During questioning at the trial, Mr. Mercurio corroborated Mr. Medina's account of how he had come to work with the agency, but he was not asked about any promises made concerning Mr. Medina's father. Mr. Mercurio did not respond to requests for an interview. Mr. Medina's attorney, Marty Goldberg, said the relationship was tainted from the beginning. "They took advantage of this guy who doesn't have a lot of sophistication or education, who got involved with them to try to help his father," he said. "Essentially, they're sending this guy out as an undercover, except he's not trained." Mr. Mercurio said Mr. Medina signed a Confidential Source Agreement dated Sept. 29, 2004, that detailed 23 provisions regarding the terms of Mr. Medina's employment, including permission for "the controlled purchase of controlled substances in an undercover capacity under the direction and control of D.E.A. controlling investigators" and "the infiltration of a drug-trafficking organization." Apart from that, the agreement prohibited Mr. Medina from taking part in illegal activity. Mr. Medina's tale lies in sharp contrast to his unremarkable life prior to becoming a secret government agent. Born in the Dominican Republic, he has lived in the Bronx and Westchester County for most of his life. He dropped out of school in the 11th grade, and his most recent job was as a maintenance worker at a bus depot. He has a 5-year-old daughter, and before his arrest had lived with his mother in Yonkers. During an I.Q. test commissioned by the defense, he scored 77 -- a mark that ranks in the bottom sixth percentile. The average score is 100. A report prepared by Sanford L. Drob, the psychologist who administered the I.Q. test, questioned whether Mr. Medina had the mental capacity to fully understand his work with the D.E.A. Mr. Drob wrote that Mr. Medina "is a man with, at best, low average intellectual potential who suffers from additional cognitive deficits secondary to a learning disability and an inconsistent educational history." Mr. Goldberg said that during Mr. Medina's high school years, his father prevented him from taking special education courses because it would have been an embarrassment to the family. "He does not have the capacity to make decisions quickly or to make good decisions under stress, which would explain some of his behavior," said Mr. Goldberg. Whatever his educational shortcomings, Mr. Medina was quickly able to infiltrate, under D.E.A. orders, a crew that robbed drug dealers, a fact the agency has confirmed. On one occasion, he procured heroin during an operation that led to arrests of members of a major drug ring. In another case, Mr. Medina gave his handlers the location of a discarded gun that had been used in a crime. Mr. Medina said he had been paid about $500 for his undercover work.The crime that landed him in jail began on the morning of Nov. 23, 2004, when the gang's leader told Mr. Medina that the crew planned to case a Bronx apartment where as much as $40,000 in cash was being hidden. Mr. Medina said he called his D.E.A. handlers on his cellphone and passed on the information. He said he was told to accompany the gang and to report back. During his testimony last week, however, Mr. Mercurio said no one at the agency had received such a call. And Mr. Medina acknowledges that he did not call the D.E.A. a second time when he realized the gang intended to force its way into the home and to rob its occupants that evening. In Mr. Medina's version of events, once the gang -- which included two other men and one woman -- arrived at the apartment building on Beekman Avenue near East 141st Street about 8:30 p.m., the gang's leader slipped a gun into Mr. Medina's coat pocket. The second man, whom Mr. Medina knew as "Shorty," handed him a pair of gloves and a roll of tape. Mr. Medina said he was pushed up the stairs to the third-floor apartment. After the woman knocked on the door, saying she was seeking information about apartments, Mr. Medina said Shorty forced open the door. A man inside surprised them by racing past and running down the stairs, said Mr. Medina. Shorty then pushed Mr. Medina inside. Next, Mr. Medina said, Shorty handed him several cellphones he found in the apartment and told him to keep an eye on a woman and her two children who had been left behind. The other gang members then left, he said, chasing after the man who had fled, leaving Mr. Medina alone with the woman and two children. Mr. Medina said one of the children, a 13-year-old girl who had been sleeping in one of the bedrooms, woke up and told him: "I know what's going on. This is the second time that this has happened." Mr. Medina said the girl then covered herself with a blanket and went back to sleep. The mother told the police, however, that Mr. Medina shoved her into a bedroom and ordered her and the children to "lay down on the floor and be quiet." Mr. Medina, who during the interview at Rikers Island said he did not remember pushing the mother, said after he closed the bedroom door, he left the apartment. In all, the mother said, several cellphones and $5,000 in cash were stolen, but she didn't see who took them. Mr. Medina said he had been confused by the speed at which everything happened. He said he had no intention of committing a crime, and had no idea where the drug gang members fled. Mr. Medina said once he had determined that the woman and her children were safe, he walked downstairs to wait for the police, although he did not call the authorities. Once the police arrived about 20 minutes later, he told officers that he worked for the D.E.A. and had tried to break up a robbery. He told them he had a gun, bullets and cellphones in his pocket. The $5,000 has never been found. During the interview, when Mr. Medina was asked why he stayed behind to be arrested when everyone else had fled, he shrugged. "I was scared." |
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