EXPERTS: INFORMANT IDENTITY OFTEN KEPT SECRET

A decision by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency in early February that
allowed two suspected methamphetamine dealers in La Plata County to go free
is not an unusual occurrence, some experts say.

On Feb. 4, charges against Waylon Smith and Victor Lopez were dropped after
officials from the DEA refused to give the district attorney’s office in
Durango the name of a key informant.

After the incident, Craig Westberg, assistant district attorney in Durango,
said he was frustrated because the cases were "forever lost."

But law enforcement officials could have any number of reasons for
withholding the names of informants, said Z.G. Standing Bear, a sociology
professor who specializes in criminology at Colorado State University.

For example, the law enforcement agency sometimes withholds an informant’s
name because he or she may be a valuable informant in a number of other,
larger cases, Standing Bear said.

The agency also may be concerned that informants will be harmed if their
identities are revealed, or that other informants will not come forward in
the future if one informant is exposed, he said.

"It’s like you’re working with an outlaw motorcycle gang," said Standing
Bear. "This guy, the informant, may have the reputation of being the
biggest, baddest biker, and the last thing the agency wants to do is ...
blow the cover ... and maybe endanger their lives."

In the recent Durango case, the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office asked the
DEA for assistance in the investigation, and then, as the case developed,
the DEA refused to disclose the informant’s name, said sheriff’s Sgt. Kelly
Davis.

Westberg said this was the first time in his career as a prosecutor that
investigators have refused to identify an informant, despite an order from
Chief District Judge Greg Lyman to disclose the name.

"In this particular case, what my wish would have been is that (the DEA)
would have never worked with the local agents," Westberg said. "If they’re
not going to work with us, it’s not worth anybody’s time or taxpayers’
money."

Dennis Follett, public information officer for the DEA in Denver, refused
to say why the name was withheld.

"Obviously, there’s a compelling reason," Follett said.

Usually, when a prosecutor asks for the name of an informant it is because
the informant will make or break the case, said Prabha Unnithan, a
professor who teaches criminology at Colorado State University.

"Most of the time, the DA’s not going to ask for the identity of the
informant unless it’s absolutely imperative," said Unnithan. "Informants
obviously have an important, long-standing relationship with the police,
and the DA knows that."