GRAHAM UNDERCOVER COP PLAYS COOL IN HIGH SCHOOL
Youthful Recruit, 21, Attends For 5 Months; Dozens Face Charges
GRAHAM, NC - As dozens of Alamance County high school students -- some dressed in orange jail jumpsuits -- filtered into courtrooms for their first appearance on drug charges, one classmate kept a low profile.
The smooth-faced 21-year-old recounted how he regularly bought drugs during his five months at Graham High School -- as an undercover police officer posing as a 17-year-old student.
"In his first class, the guy leans over across the aisle and says 'Hey, you smoke dope? If you do, I can hook you up,' " Graham police Chief Milford Miller said.
Miller and the young officer -- identified at his request by only his first name, Bobby -- described the investigation Thursday as some of the 49 students charged in the countywide sting made their first court appearances in Burlington.
Students from six of Alamance County's seven high schools were arrested Wednesday on charges of selling drugs including marijuana, cocaine and the prescription painkiller OxyContin.
District Court Judge Brad Allen asked the defendants if they had lawyers or needed one appointed, and advised them of the charges and potential penalties they faced.
Another judge handled the hearing for [NAME DELETED], the state's all-time leading high school basketball scorer, because [NAME DELETED]'s defense lawyer is Allen's wife, Dawn D. Allen. [NAME DELETED] faces charges related to selling marijuana.
Miller said he recruited Bobby to pose as a high school student after Bobby applied for a job with the police department.
The hiring was kept a secret from many of Bobby's co-workers. Only Miller, the Graham High School resource officer and a couple of drug investigators at the department, who debriefed Bobby daily, knew his identity or even that the department had an undercover officer in the school.
"We swore him in in the back seat of the car, away from the police department," Miller said.
Bobby posed as a transfer from Green Hope High School in Morrisville. He tried to endear himself to fellow students, but had to follow strict rules - -- no dating, and he had to turn down invitations to join the football and wrestling teams.
"Some people really took a liking to me," Bobby said. "I was one of them. I just hung out and played practical jokes and had a good time."
Fortunately, Bobby's job didn't depend on his grades. He admitted that, while he liked his shop and physical education classes, he didn't do too well in others.
"When I got his report card at the end of the semester, I grounded him," Miller joked.
Bobby couldn't tell his family, not even his fiancee, what he was doing. He told them he was training and doing paperwork, then working a 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. patrol shift, then on the warrant squad.
After five months, "the lies and the stories were starting to run out."
The grandmother of one student charged with selling drugs to Bobby was angry that police arrested so many students but not the adult dealers who supplied them.
[NAME DELETED] said she suspected her 17-year-old grandson was using drugs. She said he took Bobby to someone's house to pick up drugs.
"Why didn't they go out with the people ( the students ) were getting the drugs from?" [NAME DELETED] said. "Why didn't they go after the adults?"
link
2-7-04
Youthful Recruit, 21, Attends For 5 Months; Dozens Face Charges
GRAHAM, NC - As dozens of Alamance County high school students -- some dressed in orange jail jumpsuits -- filtered into courtrooms for their first appearance on drug charges, one classmate kept a low profile.
The smooth-faced 21-year-old recounted how he regularly bought drugs during his five months at Graham High School -- as an undercover police officer posing as a 17-year-old student.
"In his first class, the guy leans over across the aisle and says 'Hey, you smoke dope? If you do, I can hook you up,' " Graham police Chief Milford Miller said.
Miller and the young officer -- identified at his request by only his first name, Bobby -- described the investigation Thursday as some of the 49 students charged in the countywide sting made their first court appearances in Burlington.
Students from six of Alamance County's seven high schools were arrested Wednesday on charges of selling drugs including marijuana, cocaine and the prescription painkiller OxyContin.
District Court Judge Brad Allen asked the defendants if they had lawyers or needed one appointed, and advised them of the charges and potential penalties they faced.
Another judge handled the hearing for [NAME DELETED], the state's all-time leading high school basketball scorer, because [NAME DELETED]'s defense lawyer is Allen's wife, Dawn D. Allen. [NAME DELETED] faces charges related to selling marijuana.
Miller said he recruited Bobby to pose as a high school student after Bobby applied for a job with the police department.
The hiring was kept a secret from many of Bobby's co-workers. Only Miller, the Graham High School resource officer and a couple of drug investigators at the department, who debriefed Bobby daily, knew his identity or even that the department had an undercover officer in the school.
"We swore him in in the back seat of the car, away from the police department," Miller said.
Bobby posed as a transfer from Green Hope High School in Morrisville. He tried to endear himself to fellow students, but had to follow strict rules - -- no dating, and he had to turn down invitations to join the football and wrestling teams.
"Some people really took a liking to me," Bobby said. "I was one of them. I just hung out and played practical jokes and had a good time."
Fortunately, Bobby's job didn't depend on his grades. He admitted that, while he liked his shop and physical education classes, he didn't do too well in others.
"When I got his report card at the end of the semester, I grounded him," Miller joked.
Bobby couldn't tell his family, not even his fiancee, what he was doing. He told them he was training and doing paperwork, then working a 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. patrol shift, then on the warrant squad.
After five months, "the lies and the stories were starting to run out."
The grandmother of one student charged with selling drugs to Bobby was angry that police arrested so many students but not the adult dealers who supplied them.
[NAME DELETED] said she suspected her 17-year-old grandson was using drugs. She said he took Bobby to someone's house to pick up drugs.
"Why didn't they go out with the people ( the students ) were getting the drugs from?" [NAME DELETED] said. "Why didn't they go after the adults?"
link
2-7-04
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
