MILFORD BUST TOP SECRET

Investigation Was A Surprise To Most Of School Board

The eight-month undercover investigation at Milford High School by a
private detective, hired to pose as a student and infiltrate the
school's drug scene, was so secret that school board members didn't
even know of the $60,000 expenditure to the Dayton security firm that
provided the detective.

Only Superintendent John Frye, who came up with the idea, and school
board president Carol Ball, who gave her approval, knew of the
investigation in which the detective in her 20s posed as an
18-year-old student who went to classes, took exams, and went to
after-school parties without anyone - including teachers - knowing her
identity.

"In order to keep this under wraps, just the board president was made
aware of it," said school district spokeswoman Valerie Miller. "The
superintendent had the authority for the expenditure ... without
needing board approval."

The investigation culminated Friday with the arrest of 16 students on
drug-trafficking charges. Twelve are juveniles.

The four 18-year-olds arrested on felony aggravated drug-trafficking
charges were Kyle Dewitt, Jackson Tubbs, Andrew McAllister and Jared
Schwartz. The four were jailed in Clermont County and will have
hearings Monday.

Neither Frye, high school principal Ray Bauer nor Miami Township
Police Chief Steven Bailey returned phone calls Saturday.

Undercover investigations with police officers or private detectives
posing as high school students are rare. Milford is believed to be the
first to use such a tactic locally.

Miller said the superintendent came up with the idea after reading
about a similar investigation in a northern Ohio school district. It
also was used at an Oklahoma high school, where a 26-year-old cop
posed as a high school student. That investigation ended in March with
two arrests.

Walking the halls and parking lots with dogs trained to sniff for
drugs is more common in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.

"We have done them three or four times since the new year at the high
school and middle school," Chris Gramke, spokesman for Princeton City
School District, said of the dog sweeps.

Miller said the decision to hire a private detective was made after
talking with Miami Township police, who decided none of its officers
could pass as a high school student. There also was concern that a
local officer would be recognized.

So Frye went to North American Security Solutions Inc., which
specializes in such undercover investigations. No one from the firm
would return phone messages Saturday, but its Web site boasts of many
high-profile clients, such as General Motors, Ford, AT&T, Boeing,
Kraft Foods, BF Goodrich and Corning. The Web site says the company
provides surveillance operations to uncover things like theft, time
theft, personal injury fraud and offers "hostile employee
observation."

The company also offers armed executive protection and surveillance to
uncover drug or alcohol abuse in workplace parking lots.

Some students at the school, and one of the parents of an arrested
student who didn't want her name used, said they are concerned about
the tactics used during the investigation - that some of the students
arrested were caught up in drug transactions they wouldn't have
participated in without the prodding of the private detective.

But Woody Breyer, an assistant prosecutor with Clermont County, said
entrapment is a difficult defense to prove.

"Simply initiating the conversation isn't entrapment," Breyer said.
"It would be necessary to show the defendant had no inclination to
commit a crime, and that the total idea and the means to commit the
crime came from law enforcement."

Many parents in the district cheered the investigation and the
results.

Sandy Howdyshell, a 34-year-old Milford graduate who has an elementary
school student in the district, said she was undecided on the school
district's $108.6 million bond issue that will appear on ballots May 3
- - until she heard about the undercover investigation. The bonds are
needed to build two new elementary schools and make improvements to
other schools. It will cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $120 a
year.

"I think it was a brilliant idea to put an undercover cop in the high
school," Howdyshell said. "This event certainly has made an impact in
my eyes. Now I know I'll be voting to support Milford schools."

The drugs sold during the investigation include marijuana,
hallucinogenic mushrooms, Extacy and prescription drugs.

Spokeswoman Miller said the undercover investigation is just one part
of the district's plan to deal with drug issues. The district has
given students drug information seminars, along with training teachers
and parents how to spot potential drug use.

Enquirer reporter Cindy Kranz contributed.