Pubdate: Wed, 07 Mar 2001
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
Copyright: 2001 Cox Interactive Media.
Contact:  72 Marietta Street, NW, Atlanta, Ga. 30303
Website: http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/
Forum: http://www.accessatlanta.com/community/forums/
Author: Craig Schneider, Staff

THE KID WAS A MAN, WITH A BADGE

Undercover Drug Sting At Harrison High Fooled Everyone

Students knew him as Brent Smith. He was the tall, good-looking
transfer student who lived with his mom and dad. And he liked drugs.

When the 24-year-old undercover sheriff's deputy enrolled at Harrison
High School in November, intent on busting its drug trade, not even
the principal knew his identity.

And when he came in from the cold Monday, the student who fooled them
all had netted 27 people, 13 of them Harrison students, on drug
possession and sales charges. The story of how he did it came to light
Tuesday through interviews with law enforcement officers, school
officials and students.

In his four months inside Harrison High, the Cobb County deputy
attended a full slate of classes, went to parties and football games,
and became close to many students. But not too close.

"I knew I had to fit in, make the kids trust me and then turn around
and take them to jail," the deputy said. Police withheld his name
because he is expected to continue undercover work elsewhere.

A meeting last summer between police and two top Cobb school
administrators set the sting in motion. The drug problem at suburban
west Cobb's Harrison High --- where SAT scores far exceed the state
average --- was no worse than other Cobb schools, authorities said.
But the Marietta/Cobb/Smyrna Narcotics Unit had an "in" at Harrison.
The school safety officer there had several leads and suspects.

Within three weeks of his arrival, the new student with the
contagiously jovial demeanor was scoring drugs. "A lot of it came to
me," he said.

He was acting out an alias he had rehearsed for three months. Police
rented a house in a subdivision near the school and sent in a fake
mother and father, both police officers.

Principal Jill Kalina remembered first noticing the new student at a
school basketball game in November. Enrolled in a broadcasting class,
he was videotaping the game.

"He was very attractive. The girls were gathering around him --- the
new boy on the block," Kalina re-called.

For the first couple of months, he stayed under the radar of school
officials, pulling decent grades but hating trigonometry.

Jason Paffenback, 16, remembers seeing him working out in the school
gym.

"He was trying to buy (drugs) from everyone. He would come up and ask
where he could get it," said Jason, a junior.

Quiet conversations in school led to drug deals in nearby parking lots
or homes. None occurred at the school. State law jacks up the penalty
for selling in a drug-free school zone.

By January, the deputy was doing two drug deals a day. His studies
suffered. After a string of absences from school, his parking permit
was revoked and the school social worker called his home. His "mother"
told the school official that her son was in jail for drugs. The calls
stopped.

By that time, he was exhausted. He would finish his school day,
socialize with students, engage in drug deals. Then he had to do his
homework. After that, he would write reports to his supervisors and
debrief them.

Eventually he gained the trust of student drug dealers, who led him to
bigger deals with outside suppliers. Some of them were eventually busted.

Undercover drug stings at schools are not unusual. They happen all
over the country, said Charlie Fuller, a retired Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms agent. This was about the fifth one in Cobb since 1985,
authorities say. The last previous operation was about six years ago.

This sting shocked students and parents at Harrison.

"I think it's dumb selling drugs. But I don't think they should do an
undercover --- get everybody to trust him and then rat them out," said
junior David Odom.

It also bothered Joe Dobson, parent of a Harrison student.

"There are drugs at every school. It has to be taken care of," Dobson
said. But "it's a little discomforting to think that the police are
invading the schools now . . . really, it's kind of an entrapment, in
my opinion."

Barbara Bradley, vice president of Harrison's parent-teacher
association, said parents were assured that no kids were entrapped by
police. With that assurance, she supported the sting.

"Maybe it will make other students think twice about it," she
said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake