May 13, 2008 -- The Ledger (FL) Death Raises Questions On Use Of Informants By David Royse, The Associated Press

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TALLAHASSEE -- The mayor of Tallahassee and the Florida head of the American Civil Liberties Union called for independent investigations Monday after accusations that a 23-year-old woman should not have been used as a police informant on a dangerous drug bust.

Rachel Hoffman's body was found Friday in rural Taylor County, two days after she went missing. Hoffman, who was facing several felony charges, was working with narcotics officers and posing as a buyer.

Police said Hoffman didn't follow protocol when she left with the two men who are now suspects in her disappearance and death. Hoffman's family and lawyer says the recent Florida State University graduate should never have been placed in such a dangerous position to begin with.

Dennis Fitzgerald, a retired Drug Enforcement Agency officer, said police badly botched the case and should have sent an undercover officer to accompany Hoffman.

"If they could do it wrong, they did it in this case," said Fitzgerald, author of "Informants and Undercover Investigations: A Practical Guide to Law, Policy, and Procedure."

He also said police should have been able to keep track of Hoffman even if the planned meeting moved.

Tallahassee Police Chief Dennis Jones said he's confident officers followed department procedures, and that normally those protocols protect informants.

It was Hoffman who didn't do what she was supposed to, police say.

Police said they found Ecstasy pills and "high-grade" marijuana when they raided her apartment last week. Police haven't said what she was promised in return, but that Hoffman agreed to become an informant and help them reel in a bigger fish.

"All indications were she would be a very good choice as a confidential informant, she would follow directions and there would be no issues," Tallahassee police spokesman David McCranie said Monday.

But police say at the last minute, she changed the location of the meeting with the two men, Andrea J. Green and Deneilo Bradshaw, in a Tallahassee-area park to buy drugs and a gun from them as part of a sting. McCranie said Hoffman led police to the two men, not the other way around.

The police officer handling the case pleaded with her to call off the meeting, McCranie said.

"For whatever reason she did not call it off," McCranie said. "And that ultimately led to her murder."

Green and Bradshaw are in custody, and charged with kidnapping Hoffman. McCranie said Monday that murder charges were pending. It wasn't clear Monday whether either Green or Bradshaw had hired a lawyer.

Meanwhile, Hoffman's family was preparing for a funeral today in the Tampa Bay suburb of Palm Harbor.

They're furious that police allowed their daughter to get into such a dangerous situation.

Hoffman's stepfather, Mike Weiss, told The Tampa Tribune Monday that police should stop falling back on what Hoffman did because she shouldn't have been put in the position in the first place.

"They took a 23-year-old relatively naive person and put her in a life-threatening situation," Weiss told the newspaper.

Michael Grimes, a federal drug enforcement agent for nearly 30 years and author of "A Guide for Developing and Controlling Informants," said that undercover drug operations are never completely safe.

But generally, he said, if something goes wrong, it's because an informant messes up, or police don't clearly explain beforehand exactly what they're supposed to do.

ACLU of Florida executive director Howard Simon said her death "raises all sorts of serious questions about the use of undercover informants," Simon said. "This just screams for an investigation."

Photo: Rachel Hoffman was killed while working as a police informer in a drug case in Tallahassee

More on Rachel Hoffman: www.mapinc.org/people/Rachel+Hoffman

May 13, 2008 -- Tampa Tribune (FL)

Police Defend Informant's Use

By Josh Poltilove and Rat Reyes, The Tampa Tribune

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 well, 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.

Also visit our "Informants: Resources for a Snitch Culture" section.

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