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.