LONGING TO BE A REGULAR COP: UNDERCOVER DRUG BUSTS KEEP HER IN COURT

Cherokee Miranda has been a full-time cop in Galt for about a year
now, but it's work she did in the past that keeps her in a spotlight.

Over an 18-month stretch that ended in May, Miranda, 23, posed as a
troubled teenager looking for drugs during undercover sting operations
at Galt High School and in two other Northern California towns.

In each operation, she enrolled in school in the middle of the year
and immediately went on the prowl for drugs. During stings in
Susanville and Yreka, more than 55 adults and juveniles were busted
for possessing or selling drugs. In Galt, the tally was 43.

"I'm tired of being in the newspaper," she said the other day while
waiting outside a Sacramento courtroom where yet another defense
lawyer would accuse her of numerous improprieties during her
undercover work. "I'm tired of all this. I just want to do regular
police work."

She has been doing "regular police work" during the past year as a
Galt patrolwoman. The tattered jeans and high school students'
sneakers and backpack have been traded for a sharp, dark-blue police
uniform and a speedy patrol car.

But with the possibility of a rare jury trial in one of her
still-pending cases that could start as early as this afternoon,
Miranda continues to come under fire. No matter how fierce the
attacks, though, the vast majority of her cases are standing up, with
all but a few defendants pleading guilty or no contest to possession
or sales of drugs.

A self-professed tough kid who grew up on the streets of Richmond, got
pregnant and gave birth to a daughter her last year of high school and
has admitted using marijuana as a youth, Miranda should be accustomed
to all the finger-pointing by now.

In Yreka and Susanville, lawyers and parents of some of the kids she
busted accused her of coercing them into buying drugs, getting high
herself and even using sex to get friendly with small-time drug users
she later turned into impressive arrest statistics.

"I knew from the get-go that all the cases were above-board and
legitimate," she said. "I can't control all that other stuff. It kind
of goes with the territory."

She wasn't a full-fledged police officer when she did her undercover
work. An instructor at the police academy she attended in Eureka
recommended her for the contract sting jobs because she was smart,
outgoing and could pass as a teenager.

Late last week, Linda Parisi, a supervising attorney in the Sacramento
County Public Defender's Office, tried to get her client's
drug-selling felony charge dismissed by arguing that Miranda's
operation was "outrageous government misconduct." That failed. This
morning, Parisi is expected to seek dismissal on grounds Miranda
wasn't qualified for the work.

"Her training was woefully lacking, there was no monitoring of her
activities and, as a result, gross irregularities occurred and the
government closed its eyes to it," Parisi argued.

Her client, Nicholas Nottoli, the 40-year-old brother of Sacramento
County Supervisor Don Nottoli, is charged with selling one gram of
crack cocaine to Miranda for $20 in May after Miranda and three Galt
High School students went to his house.

Superior Court Judge Richard Gilmour conceded last week that Miranda
might not have been trained as well as a veteran undercover agent, but
he said that nothing she did rose to the level of "outrageous
government misconduct."

"My opinion is that, first of all, the operation is absolutely
legitimate," Gilmour said as Parisi sought to get Nicholas Nottoli's
case thrown out. "Whether or not it is a good idea, people of good
intentions can argue that pro or con.

"Even if she was poorly trained or not adequately supervised," Gilmour
went on, "it does not begin to approach the level of outrage that
would shock the court's conscience."

Parisi had said there were numerous discrepancies between Miranda's
police reports that stated the amount of drugs she confiscated and how
much was actually accounted for in police evidence files. In the
Nottoli case, for instance, she logged in 0.57 grams of crack but
reported buying a full gram from him. Nottoli has declined to comment
and Miranda said last week she cannot discuss specifics of any pending
cases.

Nottoli's case is one of just three still pending in Sacramento
arising from the Galt sting. Of 24 adults charged, police and court
records show that 19 pleaded guilty or no contest to felony or
misdemeanor drug charges. Two were dismissed, and two cases are
pending in San Joaquin County.

On the juvenile side, where records are secret unless defendants are
charged as adults, the results have been similar, said Jennifer
Ulstram of the Galt police records department.

"I think the numbers speak for themselves," said Chris Ore, a
Sacramento deputy district attorney prosecuting Nottoli.

Miranda may be weary of waiting around court and being slammed by
defense attorneys trying to get their clients off, but she has not
shied away from any of it.

Students in three government classes have asked her to speak about her
experiences, and she accepted each time.

"There would be a few students who were really negative each time, but
by the end they seemed to come around to what we were trying to do,"
she said. "When I see them in a group they'll yell insults or
something, but one-on-one or in the classes, the response has been
pretty good."

So, does she think any of her drug stings helped cut drug
use?

"I think we made a dent in the drug use at the high school in Galt but
they're probably back up to speed by now," she said.

Her partner, Detective Garrett Wood, said the real goal of the program
was simply to send a message that drug sales and use on campus won't
be tolerated. "Who's to say we're not going to do it again?" he said.

At that, Miranda smiled slightly. You could almost see the love of the
ruse flash in her young policewoman eyes.

"Or that we're not doing it right now," she added.