YOUNG KELVIN PUSHER RELIVES POLICE STING

The youngest student to get snagged in a drug trafficking web at Kelvin
High School says he was stunned to learn the cute new girl in school was an
undercover Winnipeg police officer.

"David," 14, pleaded guilty in provincial court yesterday to two counts of
trafficking marijuana to the undercover agent, who helped police arrest
seven students last November and expose the drug problems at one of the
city's largest high schools.

He is the second student arrested during the operation to be sentenced. The
17-year-old so-called ringleader was given one year in jail after pleading
guilty in December. A third student has pleaded guilty but awaits
sentencing, while the other four remain before the courts.

David, whose real name can't be used because he is a young offender, spoke
with the Free Press yesterday after his appearance in court.

He was sentenced to one year of supervised probation and ordered to seek
drug counselling, stay away from Kelvin school and the other alleged
dealers, and perform 120 hours of community service.

"I did not expect this to happen in my high school," he said of the police
investigation, which began in early November with complaints from several
Kelvin teachers that drug dealing was becoming a popular extracurricular
activity for some students. "It was like something right out of a movie.
The whole school thought they were going to get arrested."

The undercover police officer, who has not been identified by police but
told students her name was Jamie, quickly gained the trust of students and
was being sold marijuana and ecstasy within hours of arriving for her first
class.

"She looked like all the other girls -- tight shirts, tight pants, blond
hair, carrying her little purse. She was very believable," said David.

"She had a few wrinkles, but I thought she was an older 18, and probably
someone who did a lot of drugs," he said, noting she spent much of her time
in the school speaking to him and others about the subject.

He said his only doubts that she wasn't who she claimed to be arose when
the woman refused to "smoke up" with a group of students.

His first encounter with her occurred Nov. 20 -- the first day she arrived
in the River Heights school. David and his friends were hanging around the
west door of the school when the officer approached them and joined in
their conversation about drugs and getting high. David asked the new
student if she did drugs, and she replied "yeah," Crown attorney Joan
Schmidt told court yesterday.

The officer noted that all three students in the group, including David,
appeared to be high on drugs.

"They indicated to her that they were blasted," said Schmidt.

Later that day, the officer befriended a young girl in the school, who
pulled David out of class and requested marijuana from him.

David said he was out, but arranged a meeting later that day on the third
floor of the school. He then met the 17-year-old boy who pleaded guilty
last December and delivered two grams of marijuana to the officer, in
exchange for $20, said Schmidt.

Three days later, the officer approached David in the halls of the school
and asked if he had "any weed," Schmidt said. The officer gave him $40, and
David took the money again to the older student, who gave him four grams of
pot. David then delivered it to the officer, and promised more to come,
including "hash oil" the next week.

David's mother, a single parent who also has a 12-year-old son, was in
court for yesterday's hearing. She said she supports the actions taken by
Winnipeg police.

"There obviously was a problem, and the sting operation wasn't a bad idea,"
she said.

But the woman said she believes the school has dropped the ball, because it
was aware her son was battling drug problems and on a waiting list for
addictions counselling prior to the police raid. She claims they never told
her the teen was suspected of selling drugs in the school.

"My son was in crisis already, and I was foolish enough to believe he was
in a safe place. I believe the school division is trying to make an example
out of these kids," she said.

Chris McCoy, the teen's lawyer, told court yesterday many of his client's
drug problems can be traced back to his own father. The teen had lived with
his dad through much of his childhood and witnessed first-hand his
struggles with cocaine and alcohol, said McCoy.

"This wasn't exactly the best style of life for him," he said.

He said the boy was a "small player" in the operation who was only trying
to fit in.

"He was extremely inexperienced and, for lack of a better term, stupid,"
said McCoy.

The teen's mother said he had a difficult time fitting in at Kelvin, where
students are divided into several subcultures.

"He was just looking for a place to belong," she said, adding he clearly
made the wrong choice. The boy has already completed a three-week course at
the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba and will continue treatment and
counselling, court was told yesterday.

All students involved in the case have been suspended until the end of the
school year, but the boy is continuing to be schooled at home through
correspondence, said McCoy.

He plans to return to school in the fall, but likely not at Kelvin, he said.