ROBBERY SUSPECT SAYS THE D.E.A. MADE HIM DO IT

Many people accused of crimes come up with unusual defenses and
alibis, but one sad-faced man now imprisoned at Rikers Island has
offered a novel one. He says he was working as an undercover
operative and committed a home-invasion robbery in 2004 with the full
knowledge and approval of the United States Drug Enforcement Agency.

The suspect, Juan Medina, currently on trial in State Supreme Court
in the Bronx, was arrested after first waiting for the police to
arrive. They found a .38-caliber revolver, two .38-caliber bullets
and three stolen cellphones in his jacket pocket.

The D.E.A. has acknowledged that Mr. Medina, 24, was under contract
as an informant. But the agency has not come to his aid, and is, in
fact, helping prosecute him on charges of burglary, robbery and
criminal possession of a weapon stemming from the robbery at a Bronx
apartment. If convicted, he could be sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Last week, Joseph Mercurio, a D.E.A. special agent, testified that
neither he nor anyone else at the agency knew that Mr. Medina and the
drug gang he was trying to infiltrate had been preparing to commit a crime.

Mr. Medina has said that he had spoken to either Mr. Mercurio -- whom
he knew only as "Joe," or to Mr. Mercurio's partner, Detective
Therone Eugene, a k a "T.J." -- a few hours before the bungled crime,
telling them that the gang was casing an apartment.

"I always told them what I was going to do," Mr. Medina said during
an interview at Rikers Island before his trial started. "I was in the
wrong place at the wrong time."

Mr. Medina, who had no previous criminal record, said he became
involved with the D.E.A. in the fall of 2004, a few months after his
father was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on drug conspiracy
charges. He said he was told that if he helped the agency, his father
might win an early release. (He asked that his father not be identified.)

"One of the agents who arrested my father said, 'If you know one of
his friends who he used to be with, you could help us,' " he said.
"They said, 'You could get paid and you could also get your father
less time.' "

Mr. Medina said he signed a contract even though he told agents he
knew little about his father's criminal associates. Mr. Medina said
one of the agents told him, "Don't worry, we're going to take care of
your father."Mr. Medina said he interpreted that to mean that his
father would get a reduced prison sentence.

During questioning at the trial, Mr. Mercurio corroborated Mr.
Medina's account of how he had come to work with the agency, but he
was not asked about any promises made concerning Mr. Medina's father.
Mr. Mercurio did not respond to requests for an interview.

Mr. Medina's attorney, Marty Goldberg, said the relationship was
tainted from the beginning. "They took advantage of this guy who
doesn't have a lot of sophistication or education, who got involved
with them to try to help his father," he said. "Essentially, they're
sending this guy out as an undercover, except he's not trained."

Mr. Mercurio said Mr. Medina signed a Confidential Source Agreement
dated Sept. 29, 2004, that detailed 23 provisions regarding the terms
of Mr. Medina's employment, including permission for "the controlled
purchase of controlled substances in an undercover capacity under the
direction and control of D.E.A. controlling investigators" and "the
infiltration of a drug-trafficking organization."

Apart from that, the agreement prohibited Mr. Medina from taking part
in illegal activity.

Mr. Medina's tale lies in sharp contrast to his unremarkable life
prior to becoming a secret government agent.

Born in the Dominican Republic, he has lived in the Bronx and
Westchester County for most of his life. He dropped out of school in
the 11th grade, and his most recent job was as a maintenance worker
at a bus depot. He has a 5-year-old daughter, and before his arrest
had lived with his mother in Yonkers.

During an I.Q. test commissioned by the defense, he scored 77 -- a
mark that ranks in the bottom sixth percentile. The average score is 100.

A report prepared by Sanford L. Drob, the psychologist who
administered the I.Q. test, questioned whether Mr. Medina had the
mental capacity to fully understand his work with the D.E.A.

Mr. Drob wrote that Mr. Medina "is a man with, at best, low average
intellectual potential who suffers from additional cognitive deficits
secondary to a learning disability and an inconsistent educational history."

Mr. Goldberg said that during Mr. Medina's high school years, his
father prevented him from taking special education courses because it
would have been an embarrassment to the family.

"He does not have the capacity to make decisions quickly or to make
good decisions under stress, which would explain some of his
behavior," said Mr. Goldberg.

Whatever his educational shortcomings, Mr. Medina was quickly able to
infiltrate, under D.E.A. orders, a crew that robbed drug dealers, a
fact the agency has confirmed.

On one occasion, he procured heroin during an operation that led to
arrests of members of a major drug ring. In another case, Mr. Medina
gave his handlers the location of a discarded gun that had been used
in a crime.

Mr. Medina said he had been paid about $500 for his undercover
work.The crime that landed him in jail began on the morning of Nov.
23, 2004, when the gang's leader told Mr. Medina that the crew
planned to case a Bronx apartment where as much as $40,000 in cash
was being hidden.

Mr. Medina said he called his D.E.A. handlers on his cellphone and
passed on the information. He said he was told to accompany the gang
and to report back.

During his testimony last week, however, Mr. Mercurio said no one at
the agency had received such a call. And Mr. Medina acknowledges that
he did not call the D.E.A. a second time when he realized the gang
intended to force its way into the home and to rob its occupants that evening.

In Mr. Medina's version of events, once the gang -- which included
two other men and one woman -- arrived at the apartment building on
Beekman Avenue near East 141st Street about 8:30 p.m., the gang's
leader slipped a gun into Mr. Medina's coat pocket.

The second man, whom Mr. Medina knew as "Shorty," handed him a pair
of gloves and a roll of tape. Mr. Medina said he was pushed up the
stairs to the third-floor apartment.

After the woman knocked on the door, saying she was seeking
information about apartments, Mr. Medina said Shorty forced open the
door. A man inside surprised them by racing past and running down the
stairs, said Mr. Medina. Shorty then pushed Mr. Medina inside.

Next, Mr. Medina said, Shorty handed him several cellphones he found
in the apartment and told him to keep an eye on a woman and her two
children who had been left behind.

The other gang members then left, he said, chasing after the man who
had fled, leaving Mr. Medina alone with the woman and two children.
Mr. Medina said one of the children, a 13-year-old girl who had been
sleeping in one of the bedrooms, woke up and told him: "I know what's
going on. This is the second time that this has happened."

Mr. Medina said the girl then covered herself with a blanket and went
back to sleep.

The mother told the police, however, that Mr. Medina shoved her into
a bedroom and ordered her and the children to "lay down on the floor
and be quiet."

Mr. Medina, who during the interview at Rikers Island said he did not
remember pushing the mother, said after he closed the bedroom door,
he left the apartment.

In all, the mother said, several cellphones and $5,000 in cash were
stolen, but she didn't see who took them.

Mr. Medina said he had been confused by the speed at which everything
happened. He said he had no intention of committing a crime, and had
no idea where the drug gang members fled. Mr. Medina said once he had
determined that the woman and her children were safe, he walked
downstairs to wait for the police, although he did not call the
authorities. Once the police arrived about 20 minutes later, he told
officers that he worked for the D.E.A. and had tried to break up a robbery.

He told them he had a gun, bullets and cellphones in his pocket. The
$5,000 has never been found.

During the interview, when Mr. Medina was asked why he stayed behind
to be arrested when everyone else had fled, he shrugged. "I was scared."