Undercover Cop Sting At Chaparral High School: Case Study
Ethical Issue: Undercover Cop Sting At Chaparral High School
Catherine Fifer
Institute of Technology
PD100/ Pro Dev
Mr. Buenrostro
August 24, 2014
Entrapped December 11, 2012 Twenty two high school students were arrested in Temecula, California in what was known as Operation Glass House. Undercover cops in three high schools posed as normal students, to try and get kids to sell them illegal drugs. Among the twenty two people that were arrested, Jesse Snodgrass, was one. Jesse was only seventeen years old and has Asperger’s Syndrome. It was the beginning of Jesse’s senior year when he met the undercover officer “Daniel Briggs” in Art class who he thought was just another student like himself. Jesse never really had any friends …show more content…
until he met Daniel, who he believed, he could trust. Jesse has an obvious neurological issue, that undercover officer Daniel Briggs knew about when he first met him. Officer Briggs also attempted to convince Snodgrass to sell him some of his medications, which he declined.
The first couple days of school passed by and undercover officer Dan, gave Jesse $20 to buy marijuana for him.
Five days went by and Jesse couldn’t find anybody to purchase the illegal drug from. Becoming impatient, the undercover officer sent Jesse over sixty text messages, making requests, and just flat out bugging him for the illegal drug. Not knowing where to go and Jesse desperately wanting to fit in; he went to a Medical Marijuana Dispensary where he found a man who appeared homeless to him. He then exchanged the twenty dollars for a half a joint which was less than a gram. A few days later Snodgrass met up with Officer Briggs to give him the marijuana at a strip mall across the street from their …show more content…
school.
Two other students from the same school as Jesse with similar traits had an encounter with undercover officer Briggs; where the officer consistently harassed the students to bring him to illegal drugs as well. Out of the twenty two students arrested, nine of them were students with special needs and the rest were minorities. Jesse was charged with two felony counts for selling drugs because of California’s No Tolerance of Drugs in Schools Policy.
Since the arrest Jesse now suffers from PDS, he was locked up in a juvenile detention center and expelled from school. March 2013, Judge Tully ruled in favor that Jesse return to school immediately and criticized the district for setting him up to fail. Jesse was involved in what is known as Entrapment: a practice whereby a law enforcement agent induces a person to commit a crime they would have otherwise been unlikely to commit. June 5th, 2014 Jesse Snodgrass graduated from Chaparral High School at the age of nineteen. References
Burge/Staff Writer, S.
(2014, May 2). TEMECULA: School district sues county after drug bust - Press Enterprise. Retrieved from http://www.pe.com/articles/district-694224-school-drug.html
Ruben Erdely, S. (2014, February 26). Page 5 of The Entrapment of Jesse Snodgrass: How an Autistic Teen Got Targeted By an Undercover Cop | Rolling Stone. Retrieved from http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-entrapment-of-jesse-snodgrass-20140226?page=5
School Sues Police After Teen with Autism Arrested in Drug Sting | News | Autism Speaks. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.autismspeaks.org/news/news-item/school-sues-police-after-teen-autism-arrested-drug-sting
Truong, B. (2014, July 17). Meet The 17-Year-Old Autistic Teen That Was Tricked Into Selling Weed To An Undercover Cop. Retrieved from http://www.buzzfeed.com/briantron/meet-the-17-year-old-autistic-teen-that-was-tricked-into-sel
Vice. (2014, July 16). Undercover Cop Tricks Autistic Student into Selling Him Weed (Full Length) [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8af0QPhJ22s
Catherine Fifer
Institute of Technology
PD100/ Pro Dev
Mr. Buenrostro
August 24, 2014
Entrapped December 11, 2012 Twenty two high school students were arrested in Temecula, California in what was known as Operation Glass House. Undercover cops in three high schools posed as normal students, to try and get kids to sell them illegal drugs. Among the twenty two people that were arrested, Jesse Snodgrass, was one. Jesse was only seventeen years old and has Asperger’s Syndrome. It was the beginning of Jesse’s senior year when he met the undercover officer “Daniel Briggs” in Art class who he thought was just another student like himself. Jesse never really had any friends …show more content…
until he met Daniel, who he believed, he could trust. Jesse has an obvious neurological issue, that undercover officer Daniel Briggs knew about when he first met him. Officer Briggs also attempted to convince Snodgrass to sell him some of his medications, which he declined.
The first couple days of school passed by and undercover officer Dan, gave Jesse $20 to buy marijuana for him.
Five days went by and Jesse couldn’t find anybody to purchase the illegal drug from. Becoming impatient, the undercover officer sent Jesse over sixty text messages, making requests, and just flat out bugging him for the illegal drug. Not knowing where to go and Jesse desperately wanting to fit in; he went to a Medical Marijuana Dispensary where he found a man who appeared homeless to him. He then exchanged the twenty dollars for a half a joint which was less than a gram. A few days later Snodgrass met up with Officer Briggs to give him the marijuana at a strip mall across the street from their …show more content…
school.
Two other students from the same school as Jesse with similar traits had an encounter with undercover officer Briggs; where the officer consistently harassed the students to bring him to illegal drugs as well. Out of the twenty two students arrested, nine of them were students with special needs and the rest were minorities. Jesse was charged with two felony counts for selling drugs because of California’s No Tolerance of Drugs in Schools Policy.
Since the arrest Jesse now suffers from PDS, he was locked up in a juvenile detention center and expelled from school. March 2013, Judge Tully ruled in favor that Jesse return to school immediately and criticized the district for setting him up to fail. Jesse was involved in what is known as Entrapment: a practice whereby a law enforcement agent induces a person to commit a crime they would have otherwise been unlikely to commit. June 5th, 2014 Jesse Snodgrass graduated from Chaparral High School at the age of nineteen. References
Burge/Staff Writer, S.
(2014, May 2). TEMECULA: School district sues county after drug bust - Press Enterprise. Retrieved from http://www.pe.com/articles/district-694224-school-drug.html
Ruben Erdely, S. (2014, February 26). Page 5 of The Entrapment of Jesse Snodgrass: How an Autistic Teen Got Targeted By an Undercover Cop | Rolling Stone. Retrieved from http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-entrapment-of-jesse-snodgrass-20140226?page=5
School Sues Police After Teen with Autism Arrested in Drug Sting | News | Autism Speaks. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.autismspeaks.org/news/news-item/school-sues-police-after-teen-autism-arrested-drug-sting
Truong, B. (2014, July 17). Meet The 17-Year-Old Autistic Teen That Was Tricked Into Selling Weed To An Undercover Cop. Retrieved from http://www.buzzfeed.com/briantron/meet-the-17-year-old-autistic-teen-that-was-tricked-into-sel
Vice. (2014, July 16). Undercover Cop Tricks Autistic Student into Selling Him Weed (Full Length) [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8af0QPhJ22s