Are Pot Users Criminals? The Tragic Case of Rachel Hoffman

ABC News ^ | July 24, 2008 | BRIAN ROSS and VIC WALTER

[bamahead]

After being caught twice with a "baggie" of marijuana, 23-year old Rachel Hoffman was reportedly told by police in Tallahassee, Florida that she would go to prison for four years unless she became an undercover informant.

The young woman, a recent graduate of Florida State University, was murdered during a botched sting operation two months ago.

"The idea of waging a war on drugs is to protect people and here it seems like we're putting people in harm's way," said Lance Block, a lawyer hired by Rachel's parents.

The Florida Attorney General's office says it is reviewing the procedures and protocol of the Tallahassee police.

"I'm calling her a criminal," Tallahassee police chief Dennis Jones told 20/20, who maintains that both drug dealers and drug users are considered criminals to his department.

Under Florida law, possession of more than 20 grams of marijuana is a felony.

The Tallahassee police chief says Rachel was suspected of selling drugs and she was rightly treated as a criminal.

"That's my job as a police chief to find these criminals in our community and take them off the street, to make the proper arrests," Jones told 20/20.

Rachel's case also is raising questions about how police recruit and use informants in undercover operations.

"There need to be some safeguards here," said Block, the Hoffman family lawyer.

The young woman received no training before being sent to an undercover meeting to buy a large amount of drugs and a handgun from two suspects.

Police says Rachel was killed by the very handgun she was supposed to buy.

"I don't think she understood the risk or danger that she was in," said Block.

Rachel was in a drug court diversion program when she became an informant.

[Mojave]

a small time buyer suddenly wants a $15,000 buy of 1500 Ecstasy, several ounces of cocaine, "and a handgun"

Right. The perps looked her up in the small time dealer directory.

[kcvl]

"Hoffman was facing charges of possession of ecstasy with intent to sell, possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, maintaining a drug house and possession of drug paraphernalia, Police Chief Dennis Jones said."..........

She agreed to buy 1,500 pills of ecstasy, 2 ounces of cocaine or crack cocaine and a gun from two men who are now suspected of kidnapping and robbing her.

“Unfortunately, Rachel chose to ignore precautions established in a previous briefing as well as the direction of her case agent,” Jones said.

Hoffman left the Forestmeadows Park area, where several police officers were watching her, to go meet Andrea J. Green and Deneilo Bradshaw.

Police tried to stop her, but were unsuccessful, said police spokesman Officer David McCranie. It’s not clear how they lost sight of her or where she went.

"We had established protocols in place to ensure her safety," McCranie continued. "At some point during the investigation, she chose not to follow the instructions. She met Green and Bradshaw on her own. That meeting ultimately resulted in her murder."

Investigators lost contact with Hoffman about 6:45 p.m, according to court records. Her cell phone went unanswered and a listening device in her purse stopped working.

she and police were made aware of the two brothers-in-law through a "fellow student" that Hoffman turned in to police after she was made an informant.

Hoffman served three days in Leon County Jail this year, from April 4 to April 6, for failure to appear in court, according to court records.

Hoffman began working with police after a search of her home April 17 uncovered marijuana and pills.

She was arrested after being pulled over for speeding on Feb. 22, 2007. The arresting officer found 25.7 grams of cannabis in her car, court records show. Hoffman was sentenced to probation, community service, and she was required to attend a drug-rehabilitation program.

"We want to know what happened to Rachel and we've given the city notice of our intent to sue," said Hoffman family attorney Lance Block.

[kcvl]

"'60 Minutes' has called, 'Dateline' has called, '20/20' has already been here and filmed," said Lance Block, the attorney for the Hoffman family. " Rolling Stone was here to do a story. I can't tell you how many media representatives have called me. Agents, people that want to do books — I don't have enough time in the day for it all."

Block is utilizing the services of Ron Sachs Communications, a public relations firm in Tallahassee.

case might create a fire storm throughout the nation because of who she was. Or more to the point, who she wasn't.

Hoffman wasn't facing serious jail time. She wasn't male. She wasn't uneducated, and she wasn't a minority.

"No one is going to ignore this. I can promise you that."

She wouldn't go to jail for the less than half a pound of marijuana and handful of Ecstasy tabs police had found when they busted her at her apartment in April and asked her to become a confidential informant. She wouldn't get in trouble for violating the terms of her court-ordered drug diversion program. Her parents wouldn't find out.

Hoffman wanted to watch her own real-life drama go down. Her friend Liza agreed to be there May 7 to shoot video when the bust happened. Except the planned buy at Forestmeadows Park was derailed and no video was shot.

Immediately after Tallahassee police raided her apartment April 17, Hoffman went to her boyfriend's house and told him about the deal she'd cut. Over the next three weeks, she would tell him and Liza all about her work as a confidential informant.

"They wanted her to turn in her friends, and she wouldn't do that," said Liza, a 24-year-old FSU graduate student. "She said she wanted to get some grimy people off the street. She wanted to get bad guys."

At first she agreed to give up a guy she knew who dealt drugs and sometimes bought pot from her, her friends said. But after one controlled call from the police station, she confessed to him she was working for the police and asked him to help her find someone else to turn in.

Toward the end of April, she was set to go back to the area of the detailing shop, this time wired by police. Liza was ready with the video camera so Hoffman could see for herself what happened. She was planning to write a book about her life.

Hoffman's boyfriend said he drove her to her usual weekly drug test, which she passed by cheating with the help of The Whizzinator tucked under her skirt.

Hoffman, her friends said, sent between 50 and 100 text messages a day. The day of the controlled bust was no different.

At 6:34 p.m., she messaged her boyfriend: "I just got wired up. Wish me luck. I'm on my way."

At 6:34 p.m., she messaged her boyfriend: "I just got wired up. Wish me luck. I'm on my way."

Then, at 6:47 p.m., Liza received Hoffman's last message, calling off the video her friend was set to make of the SWAT team charging in: "It's far. I'll call you after."

[Mojave]

"'60 Minutes' has called, 'Dateline' has called, '20/20' has already been here and filmed," said Lance Block, the attorney for the Hoffman family. "Rolling Stone was here to do a story."

The usual suspects,

[Mojave]

Hoffman's boyfriend said he drove her to her usual weekly drug test, which she passed by cheating with the help of The Whizzinator tucked under her skirt.

Maybe she couldn't follow police instructions because she was loaded. I wonder if the Hoffman family will sue her boyfriend?

[Gondring]

Absinthe has been illegal in America for nearly a century.

Absinthe is legal in the US. It's imported (Kübler and Lucid), but it's also even made in the US (St. George Absinthe Verte, etc.).

It has to meet standards, have no more than 10 mg/l of thujone, and is highly taxed, but it's legal.

In case you're wondering, no, I've never touched the stuff myself.

[jmc813]

Absinthe has been illegal in America for nearly a century.

It actually became legal again recently, bro.

[Mojave]

It has to meet standards, have no more than 10 mg/l of thujone, and is highly taxed, but it's legal.

Near beer was legal during prohibition. You can also buy industrial hemp and smoke it if ya want.

[greccogirl]

Yeah here is the result of that wonderful legal drug, alcohol. Funny I don’t remember in 52 years of my life seeing anyone stoned act this way:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080726/ap_on_re_eu/germany_emergency_landing

BERLIN - Two drunken British women went on a rampage on a charter plane, hitting one flight attendant with a bottle of vodka and trying to open a cabin door as the aircraft was cruising over Austria at 10,000 meters (32,800 feet), police said Saturday.

The staff on the flight from Greece to England eventually forced the women back to their seats and the pilot made an emergency in Frankfurt on Thursday, police told The Associated Press, confirming a statement they had issued on Friday.

The identities of the women, aged 26 and 27, were not released, but police said the 26-year-old may be charged with attempted assault and interfering with air traffic.

Both women were released, police said.

The rampage occurred when a flight attendant denied the women alcohol because they were visibly intoxicated, police said. The 26-year-old took a swipe at a cabin attendant with a bottle of vodka, then attempted to open a cabin door.

Yeah, that wonderful liquor!! Sooo much better than pot. LOL

[greccogirl]

Makes me so mad I could spit. Idiots.

[greccogirl]

Think the legal drugs that we aready have are harmless? ROTFLMAO

[Mojave]

Think the legal drugs that we aready have are harmless?

And here comes the entitlement demand...

No drug thread would be complete without one.

[greccogirl]

Entitlement? You’ll have to do better than that.

[Mojave]

Some legal drugs may be harmful so therefore the voters have legalize ecstasy too. Entitlement demand, pure and simple.

[MartinStyles]

I think your rabid defense of illegal drugs shows just how dangerous and addictive they are.

Were you like this before you started using them? Be honest please.

[Mojave]

One Christian Portillo, 35, was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. No weapons or drugs were recovered from the vehicle, he said. The victim’s father said his son had done nothing wrong and that he watched in horror after the officer shot him in the family’s driveway.

"Portillo was arrested along with his father and brother on Dec. 21, 1991, when they jumped two sheriff's deputies trying to remove gang members from a party at their Dalerose house."

http://www.dailybreeze.com/crimeandcourts/ci_9991185

A shining example to dopers everywhere.

[dcwusmc]

Falsely or in error? Maybe his sourcebook is wrong? Or maybe it’s another Roscoe Special, a LIE. I don’t know. The poster did source his quotes but you don’t like the source. That’s on YOU, Studly. The poster did HIS job...

And as for bizarre, looked in your mirror lately?

[Mojave]

Maybe his sourcebook is wrong?

Maybe your beoved Dan Rather's source was wrong.

[Gondring]

Excellent, coherent point! :-)

[dcwusmc]

Hey, I didn’t post the quote or source it. It’s YOU that doesn’t believe the source, but you don’t trouble yourself to disprove it. Or provide links to show that it’s mis-sourced. All we have is your unsupported word for it. So PROVE that it’s misattributed or STFU. The poster provided a legitimate source that attributed the quotes in question to Lincoln. Now it’s up to you to show that his source was wrong. If you can’t, then deal with it. And STFU anyway. You have provided a lot of heat but ZERO light to the discussion. As usual. Perhaps you need to go find your buddy, bobby paulsen and keep him company, wherever else he is hiding these days.