Pubdate: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 Source: Orange County Register (CA) Contact: http://www.ocregister.com/ Author: Stuart Pfeifer - OCR WILSON SIGNS YOUTH-INFORMANT SAFEGUARD Law Enforcement: Police will need to get a judge's OK before using minors undercover. Gov. Pete Wilson,spurred by the death of a teen-age Brea police informant,signed a bill Friday that requires police to obtain a judge's approval before using minors as undercover agents. Assemblyman Scott Baugh,R-Huntington Beach,drafted the bill in res ponce to an Orange County register story that detailed 17-year-old Chad MacDonald's informant work. MacDonald, hoping to avoid prosecution,agreed to do undercover work for Brea police after he was arrested for possessing a half-ounce of methamphetamine. He made one drug buy and gave police information about a drug lab they already knew about,according to Brea police. The former Esperanza High School student was beaten and strangled and his girlfriend raped and shot after the pair visited a Norwalk drug house in March. Brea police had removed MacDonald from their informant program several weeks earlier for buying drugs without their knowledge. At a hearing in Los Angeles, the girlfriend testified that the suspects strip-searched MacDonald while looking for a recording "wire" and accused him of working for the police. "Solving crimes is the responsibility of law-enforcement officials and other qualified adults, not of children," Wilson said in a news release. "...We must ensure their safety." Brea Police Chief Bill Lentini noted that MacDonald's mother signed a waiver allowing him to work as an informant, also required under the new law. MacDonald's mother, Cindy, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Brea police, alleging that they did not adequately protect her son and misled her on the dangers. - ---