TEEN CAUGHT IN OPERATION BABYFACE HEARS WORDS OF PRIDE FROM JUDGE

She Was One Of Nine Students Charged In The Drug Investigation At Roanoke
County High Schools.

A Roanoke County judge on Thursday told one of the teens charged in
Operation Babyface that he was proud of the way she's now living her life.

Since the 17-year-old girl was charged last fall, she's been clean of
drugs, has made the honor roll and is expected to graduate from high school
in June. After her arrest, she moved from Roanoke County, where she was
living with her father, to Georgia with her mother.

"You appear to be doing rather well in Georgia," Juvenile and Domestic
Relations Judge Philip Trompeter told her. "I want to congratulate you for
that. I'm proud of you for that."

Thursday was supposed to be the day the teen, whom
(http://www.theroanoketimes.com)The Roanoke Times is not identifying
because of her age, would be sentenced for selling LSD to an undercover
police officer at Northside High School. But because the Georgia court
system had prepared an inadequate social history report on her, Trompeter
delayed the sentencing until June.

The girl was among nine students charged in Operation Babyface, during
which Officer K.L. Moulton spent 10 months posing as a high school junior
at Northside and William Byrd high schools to catch drug dealers.

Some of the teen-agers have pulled jail time, while others have shown the
court they were working to turn themselves around. The 17-year-old said
Thursday after the hearing that Moulton was the only person she ever sold
drugs to, and that she's been clean since last fall.

Drug screens have come back negative, her attorney said.

"You can't imagine how gratifying it is to hear that," said Sgt. Chuck
Mason, who supervises the Roanoke County Police Department's vice unit and
was one of the few who knew about the undercover operation.

The teen said she doesn't harbor any bad feelings toward Moulton, whom she
had befriended. Moulton, too, said she considered the girl a friend while
she attended the high school.

"She was doing her job," the teen said Thursday. "I don't think anybody
would be happy getting busted over something they're not supposed to do."
Still, she added, "I'm glad I got caught. I didn't need to be doing it anyway."