Grand Jury: Tallahassee police and DEA negligent in Rachel Hoffman death
Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 8:53 am | By: Radical Russ
Tallahassee Democrat continuing coverage of Rachel Hoffman’s case
NORML Daily Audio Stash previous stories on Rachel Hoffman
“Negligent conduct” on the part of the Tallahassee Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration contributed to the May shooting death of 23-year-old police informant Rachel Hoffman, according to a Leon County grand jury.
The 15 members of the grand jury issued a scathing report, called a “presentment,” on Friday after three days of testimony from witnesses and law-enforcement officers. The grand jury also indicted Andrea Green, 25, and Deneilo Bradshaw, 23, in connection with Hoffman’s death.
The grand jurors said TPD failed to ensure Hoffman’s safety from the beginning.
“Less than 15 minutes after she drove away from the offices of TPD, she drove out of the sight of the officers who assured her they would be right on top of her watching and listening the whole time,” the grand jurors wrote. “She cried out for help as she was shot and killed, and nobody was there to hear her.”
The jurors said the TPD’s command staff was negligent in its supervision and review of the controlled drug buy. The plan that Jones and others approved did not mention a gun. The amount of drugs was listed incorrectly. It didn’t discuss the terms or location of the deal.
“There is no doubt that Andrea Green and Deneilo Bradshaw are the ones that brutally murdered Rachel Hoffman. But through poor planning and supervision and a series of mistakes through the transaction, TPD handed Ms. Hoffman to Bradshaw and Green to rob and kill her as they saw fit,” the grand jurors wrote.
Hoffman set up drug buys and made contact with potential “targets” without officers’ knowledge. She told one target and other acquaintances she was an informant. Her inexperience, immaturity and care-free attitude made it unlikely that she could complete the buy, according to the grand jury.
“Although Ms. Hoffman had a well-established business of cannabis distribution with her friends, she had no experience with dealing in ecstasy, cocaine or firearms,” the grand jurors wrote.
The police department and DEA treated a 23-year-old pot enthusiast as if she were the Medellin cartel, dangled her as nothing more than bait for two violent thugs, and lost contact with her on a major sting involving a firearm for 36 hours. Negligence is putting it nicely.
The supervisors and lead officer in the botched drug sting that ended in informant Rachel Hoffman’s death have been placed on administrative leave with pay by the Tallahassee Police Department.
TPD spokesman David McCranie said the officers are Capt. Chris Connell; Lt. Taltha White; Sgt. Rod Looney; Sgt. David Odom; and Investigator Ryan Pender.
[TPD] also doubled the number of internal-affairs officers assigned to the case from the normal three to six, to speed up the investigation.
How nice. Your incompetence and zeal for dehumanizing marijuana users leads to a paid vacation.
According to personnel files, the Rachel Hoffman case represents the fifth time since 1999 that Lt. Taltha White has been investigated by the Tallahassee Police Department’s internal-affairs unit and the second time an investigation involved a confidential informant.
White was the lieutenant who approved the controversial drug-and-gun bust involving Hoffman on May 7, and the one who was heavily criticized in the grand-jury presentment that was released Aug. 1.
“Although a lieutenant was monitoring the radio transmissions, she was also tasked with a computer audit at the same time and was somewhat distracted,” the presentment read. “Further, the lieutenant had only been supervising the unit for less than three months and had no prior experience in the VICE unit.”
During the course of the grand-jury testimony, White also admitted that she did not read the operational plan (OPS) before signing off on it.
Sorry, Lieutenant, signing off on dangerous stupid plans without reading them is a job reserved for Congress.
Rachel Hoffman was portrayed by friends as a fairly low-level pot dealer who mainly sold to college students to support her own habit.
But grand jurors, who last week deemed Tallahassee police negligent in the confidential informant’s death in May, reported that police said Hoffman told them she was selling 10 to 15 pounds of marijuana a week out of her Tallahassee apartment.
The idea that Hoffman was selling such a staggering amount of pot — at least $35,000 a week by Drug Enforcement Administration estimates — was met with skepticism by her family’s attorney and experts.
When Hoffman’s apartment was raided by police in April, a probable-cause statement said they found about 5 ounces of pot, a ledger used to record drug transactions and a digital scale. They make no note of any large sum of cash.
It was at that time Hoffman was recruited to become a confidential informant.
“This makes no sense. She would have been a major dealer,” said Fred Shenkman, emeritus professor of criminology at the University of Florida. “They wouldn’t have treated her the way they treated her … This is a real incongruity.”
Shenkman said it would be almost impossible for her friends and family not to notice if Hoffman was selling up to 15 pounds of pot a week.
“Unless she is the most stoic, disciplined hippie ever,” he said.
In Tallahassee, a pound of marijuana goes for between $3,500 and $4,000, according to conservative estimates by the DEA, McCranie said.
So read the ledger. If she kept track of her drug transactions, and she were dealing 10-15 pounds a week, you’d have quite a few entries in that ledger.
When you do the math, $35,000 a week works out to $1.82 million a year. You’d think someone with that kind of cash flow would really stand out in a college student crowd, don’t you?
yeah… people who deal 10-15 pounds a week probably deal by the bag too… with her cute little scale to weigh out the 34 ounces she was selling per day…
must’ve caught her on a friday if she only had 5 ounces left!
Derek, there is no evidence to suggest that Rachel was dealing 10-15 pounds per week. That kind of trafficking brings in a lot more money and product than were ever discovered in the Hoffman case. You’re not insinuating that people who deal 10-15 pounds a week deserve to die, are you?
Iam Proud to be part of the Tallahassee Police Department,as a Member of the Citizens Academy. But, not enough thought went thru for the op, that this was part of. Iam truly sorry for the pain that the family is going thru and the pain of self doubt that this has brought to these officers of the TPD. My Grand use to say bad things can only come of bad things. Please, If you are a person that committs pc of unsafe pratice, please try to STOP and please try to THINK, before you act and have something like this happen. There are tons of things that never reach the public, Why because the Public just can’t deal with the real life problems…will light candle for several that need a light for their path..Ardith Ann Richter
What about that moron Tallahassee Police Chief??? What are the people of Tallahassee doing about him??? He’s a bigger Criminal than Rachel ever was, plus he’s a liar and a total idiot of major league proportions. Its a sad state of affairs that a person like this can try to justify what happened with Rachel. Because he is a huge idiot he tries to put this whole thing off on her like she developed this situation. Wow…its …people of Tallahassee should be scared for there children…..You have a total moron running your police department…
It’s so sad that the grand jury was needed to even make this decision. EVERYONE knew where to point the finger and it’s not at poor Rachel. I really pray and hope that she gets justice for her untimely and misfortunate demise! I definately hope that this changes laws not just in FL but everywhere. NOONE deserved to die like this…If you got this going on, you might as well bring back slavery!!!
***If she was selling that much pot, then why did they only find 5 ozs??? You made a great point: 1.82 million a year and I’m sure she didn’t need any college $$ and wouldn’t she buy a home and car and spoil herself rotten????COME ON…Are they (TPD) still saying lies to make themselves look better? How does that justify sending a sheep into the wolves den????