Source: Dallas Morning News
Contact:  http://www.dallasnews.com
Pubdate: Tue, 24 Mar 1998
Author: Linda Stewart Ball / The Dallas Morning News

PLANO CHIEF DEFENDS DRUG STINGS

But suspect questions tactics of investigation

Plano Police Chief Bruce Glasscock defended his department's undercover
stings in Plano high schools Monday against allegations of entrapment and
child endangerment by a student and his parents.

"We . . . are confident this investigation was handled in a professional
manner," the chief said during a news conference Monday afternoon. He said
the Collin County district attorney's office reviewed his department's
information before any warrants were issued, and that a Collin County grand
jury indicted those arrested.

But an attorney for Jonathan Kollman, 17, questioned the Police
Department's tactics. The teen was among 31 people arrested as part of
"Operation Rockfest," the undercover investigation that has led to 84 cases
against 33 adults and four juveniles.

Specifically, attorney Phillip Wainscott said the undercover detective knew
that Mr. Kollman, who was 16 at the time, was battling a two-year addiction
with drugs when she lured him into using heroin again. She gave him the
cash to buy it, drove him in a little red sports car to the pushers who
sold it and then, Mr. Wainscott said, she allowed him to use it.

"This is a lot of temptation for anyone, for any kid," he said. "But to
prey upon and to be a predator upon a kid who is trying to kick the drug
habit . . . is disgusting."

Angela Kollman, Mr. Kollman's mother, said, "We feel like the Plano Police
Department was our son's drug supplier."

Mr. Kollman, who is out on $40,000 bail, plans to enroll in a drug
treatment center in Hunt County on Tuesday. He said that he could have said
no to the undercover cop, but it wasn't that easy.

"I was trapped," he said. "The police officer always called me."

Chief Glasscock said Plano Police Department policies and practices prevent
him from elaborating on the allegations. Because of ongoing investigations,
he also declined to discuss the methods they use for undercover operations.

"The facts of this case will come out in trial," he said. "At that time you
will be able to draw a more accurate picture of this defendant and the
circumstances which led to his arrest.

"This is diverting our attention away from what the real issue is: dealing
with and responding to the drug problem that is in this community," the
chief said.

At least a dozen youths with Plano ties have died of heroin overdoses in
the last 18 months.

"We're proud to live in Plano," said Mrs. Kollman, a science teacher at a
Plano high school. "It's a great city. They've got a drug problem. They
need to clean it up - just not this way."

Last fall - prior to meeting the young woman who, unbeknownst to Mr.
Kollman, was a police officer - the youth tested negative for drugs 12
times, his parents said.

"Police should not be contributing to making him worse," said Jonathan's
father, Victor Kollman, a Lutheran minister.

Jonathan Kollman, an A and B student who takes honors classes, said he
wants to go to college and be successful. But first he must kick his
addiction to drugs that began out of a curiosity about marijuana, he said.

Mr. Kollman was arrested on two counts of delivery of a controlled
substance on March 16.

Mr. Wainscott said he wants a grand jury in either Collin or Dallas county
to investigate the Plano Police Department's methods to determine whether
there was any criminal conduct on the officer's behalf.

"I'm a former police officer of 21 years and I've never come across
anything like this," Mr. Wainscott said, adding that he is considering
filing suit against the department. "You don't put on the street what
you're attempting to take off."

But Bill Schultz, first assistant district attorney in the Collin County
district attorney's office, said different rules apply when police go
undercover, and they don't always agree with everyone's sense of propriety.

"It's the only area where police must lie to the people they're dealing
with to achieve results," he said. "If Kollman thinks he's been entrapped I
guess he can lay that on the jury and see what it thinks."