TALLAHASSEE POLICE CHIEF DEFENDS FIRING DECISION IN RACHEL HOFFMAN CASE

Tallahassee police Chief Dennis Jones is defending his decision to
fire only one investigator and not higher-ranking officers over the
botched drug sting that led to Rachel Hoffman's death.

Investigator Ryan Pender, who recruited Hoffman as a confidential drug
informant, was fired last week. Four more senior officers were
suspended for two weeks without pay. Jones was reprimanded by City
Manager Anita Favors Thompson, and Deputy Chief John Proctor was
reprimanded by Jones.

Jones said, "People are going to second guess that. To some people, it
might look like I sacrificed him and protected his superiors. ... Some
people say we all should be fired."

But judging from what happened, "the level of responsibility fell on
(Pender)," Jones said.

Hoffman, a recent Florida State University graduate, became a
confidential informant after officers found drugs in her apartment in
April.

Pender knew that on Hoffman's first day as an informant, she told a
person she'd been planning to bust that she was working with police.
Pender also knew that Hoffman had contacted suspects on her own. All
were violations of policies that Pender was responsible for knowing.

"(Pender) convinced his superiors she would still be able to do what
she was supposed to do," Jones said.

But Pender didn't tell his supervisors all of those problems with
Hoffman, Jones said. The 23-year-old was likable, and Pender wanted to
help her stay out of jail.

"He is a victim, too," he said. "I think we all are."

William Gaut, a former police captain in Alabama, said he would more
than likely fire the supervisor instead of the officer if the
supervisor knew what was going on but did nothing to stop it.

In that case, "the supervisor is effectively telling the officer what
you're doing is OK," he said.

Capt. Chris Connell, one of the suspended officers, told
internal-affairs investigators at the Tallahassee Police Department he
doesn't normally look into an informant's background when going over
drug-bust plans. He told them he trusts the officers, who work with
the informants, and the officers' direct supervisors, who monitor
that. He said he didn't know about Hoffman until the day of the bust.

"Nobody said to me, 'We've got a problem with this girl; we want to
use her anyway,'" he said, according to an internal-affairs report
released Thursday.

Both Sgt. David Odom and Lt. Taltha White, whose ranks are under
Connell, admitted they knew at least some of the mistakes Hoffman had
made, but they continued to use her anyway, according to the report.

"But she didn't try to hide it from Pender," White said about Hoffman.
"She told Pender exactly what happened ... And so I didn't think it
took away from her credibility."

Although he was the supervisor of the bust that led to Hoffman's
death, Sgt. Rod Looney said he didn't know about the problems. He said
he would've expected Pender to tell him.

"A lot of stuff I found out after the fact," Looney said in the
report. "So I didn't know about it, and by that time, it's too late. I
am already knee-deep in it."

On May 7, Hoffman drove alone in her Volvo to Forestmeadows Park in
northeast Tallahassee, where she was to buy 1,500 ecstasy pills, 2
ounces of cocaine and a gun from two men with $13,000 in recorded bills.

She wore a wire and talked to Pender on her iPhone. Police and Drug
Enforcement Administration agents lost sight of her. She was found two
days later shot to death in Taylor County.

Pender was primarily responsible for keeping an eye on her during the
bust, Connell said in the report.

A Leon County grand jury that examined the Hoffman case on Aug. 1
indicted Deneilo Bradshaw, 23, and Andrea Green, 25, on murder and
robbery charges and issued a scathing critique of police and the DEA.
The grand jurors were instructed in negligence law and could've
pursued criminal charges against the officers involved, but no such
indictment was returned.

"That issue was before the grand jury, and there was no indictment,"
said State Attorney Willie Meggs.

Meggs had no comment about whether the punishment of the TPD officers
was appropriate.

Pender, a police officer for seven and a half years, was given written
notification of his firing Friday, said his lawyer, Paul Villeneuve.

"We are reviewing all of our options at this point, but I would say
it's highly likely that we will file a grievance and seek appellate
relief," he said. "He's exceptionally disappointed. He loved police
work, and he wants to continue serving his community."

Pender's law-enforcement certification won't be under review unless
his "moral character" is in question. If he simply violated agency
policy, TPD won't have to send its internal-affairs report to the
Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission at the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement, said Heather Smith, an FDLE
spokeswoman.

Senior writer Jennifer Portman contributed to this report.