Files Detail Teen’s Work for Brea Police

SANTA ANA —  Yorba Linda teenager Chad MacDonald Jr., whose tortured body was found in a South Los Angeles alley, made one undercover drug buy for the Brea Police Department before being dropped as an informant 10 days before his death, according to documents released Wednesday that reveal new details about the controversial case.

The release of police reports and Orange County district attorney files marked law enforcement’s first public acknowledgment that the minor was used as an informant. The documents spell out MacDonald’s relationship with Brea drug investigators and the dates during which he worked for them.

The 17-year-old’s family has insisted that it was this work as an informant that marked him as a “narc” and cost him his life. They repeated that charge Wednesday.

Law enforcement officials, however, stressed that the documents show MacDonald’s work for them was not life-threatening: He mainly provided information about illegal activity and made one undercover drug buy that failed to result in any arrests.

When MacDonald was later arrested on suspicion of possessing marijuana and methamphetamines, police concluded he was selling and using drugs in violation of his agreement with police, and he was dropped as an informant on Feb. 19, police said.

Brea Police Chief William C. Lentini, who has been under fire for using the juvenile as an informant, was granted a court’s permission Wednesday to discuss the case in detail for the first time. Lentini said that MacDonald was responsible for his own death.

“Here was a kid who is 90 days away from his 18th birthday and who’s had a lot of experience in the drug world already,” Lentini said. “It is not our belief he was killed because of his involvement with us, but because of his very deep involvement with drugs in general.”

But MacDonald’s family insisted that the documents support their claims that the teen’s work for police became known to his alleged killers in Norwalk, where the teenager went on March 1. MacDonald’s body was found two days later in a South Los Angeles alley. His 16-year-old girlfriend, who accompanied him, was raped and shot but survived.

“If he had not been working as a snitch with the cops, Chad would be alive today,” said Lloyd Charton, an attorney speaking on behalf of MacDonald’s mother, Cindy, who has declined to be interviewed. “It doesn’t take a genius for these people to figure out who’s ratting them out.”

The documents were released after days of allegations aimed at local law enforcement. At first, Lentini said he believed he was barred from discussing MacDonald’s case because it involved confidential juvenile records. The records were released last week by an Orange County Superior Court judge to MacDonald’s family; Charton made public only selective portions.

Police, prosecutors and the media returned before the court Wednesday to ask that all the documents be made public. The judge gave the police and prosecutors permission to discuss the case publicly and release a few of the records.

Charton claims that there are police documents still unreleased that show that local law enforcement officials are aware that MacDonald may have been killed because of his work as an informant.

Revelations of MacDonald’s work with police sparked debate over the use of juvenile informants, with state legislators calling for new laws that would ban police from enlisting teenagers for that purpose.

Teen’s Work for Police Outlined

The case has also become an issue in Dist. Atty. Mike Capizzi’s race for the state attorney general. Reports released from his office Wednesday said prosecutors believed MacDonald would only be a source of information, not an undercover drug buyer.

When they were alerted by MacDonald’s mother on Feb. 24 that the youth had been used to buy drugs, Deputy Dist. Atty. Kal Kaliban told detectives to call it off, according to the documents.

“If everyone knew the full picture from the very beginning, someone would have tried to discourage [MacDonald’s] use as a narcotics buyer,” Assistant Dist. Atty. John Conley said.

He said Brea police called the prosecutor in charge of drug informants and asked if it was “OK to use a juvenile.”

“We said it’s legal, which it is,” Conley said Wednesday. “It’s dangerous, it’s a judgment call, but it’s legal.”

MacDonald was first arrested Jan. 6 on suspicion of possessing methamphetamine with the intent to deliver. That same day, MacDonald and his mother signed an agreement with police that allowed him to work as a confidential informant.

According to the documents, detectives had been targeting a drug house near Esperanza High School in Anaheim when MacDonald--a former student there--told police he was familiar with the house, had dealt drugs around the campus himself before and was “anxious to become a confidential informant.”

On Jan. 15, MacDonald was under the supervision of detectives when he purchased 0.8 grams of methamphetamine. The teenager had arranged to buy one full gram of the drug but was “shorted” during the sale, according to the police reports. Detectives returned to the house six days later with a search warrant, but no drugs were found during the raid and no arrests were made.

A month later, on Feb. 19, MacDonald was arrested during a second traffic stop when police allegedly found 2 grams of methamphetamine in his front pocket and a bag of marijuana in his truck.

At that time, MacDonald told police the methamphetamine was the “balance” of the deal he originally set up for detectives during the earlier undercover buy, according to the records. He also told police the marijuana did not belong to him, according to the police reports.

But detectives concluded MacDonald had purchased the drugs on his own.

“He had 10 times the amount of drugs on him than what the balance from the first deal was,” Lentini said. “It was our belief that he was doing his own thing out there, he had violated the agreement by taking part in criminal activity while working as an informant, and he was told so by the detectives.”

The documents show MacDonald also misled his mother about his work with police. Cindy MacDonald called detectives on Feb. 2 to complain that her son was not going to school and was staying out late--activities he told her he was doing for police. The officers told Cindy MacDonald that wasn’t true, the reports said.

MacDonald also insisted to his mother that the drugs he was caught with on Feb. 19 had been purchased for detectives. When Cindy MacDonald called police that day, she was told otherwise, according to the documents.

“Both Mrs. MacDonald and Chad knew that if he committed any crime that the relationship with the Police Department would be terminated,” the report said.

On Feb. 24--about a week before his murder--MacDonald’s mother was notified by Kaliban that the agreement with police was officially over.

“All parties agree minor will not work with cops anymore,” the prosecutor wrote in his report dated Feb. 24.

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Final Days

The torture-death of Chad MacDonald Jr., 17, of Yorba Linda, has triggered debate about the use of minors as informants:

Jan. 6: MacDonald is arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs for sale; agrees to work as an informant.

Jan. 14: Orange County prosecutors are alerted that Brea police plan to use MacDonald as an informant.

Jan. 15: Under detective supervision, MacDonald goes to a suspected drug house and purchases methamphetamine. Detectives return with a search warrant; no drugs are found and no arrests are made.

Feb. 2: Charges are filed against MacDonald in Orange County Juvenile Court with the understanding that the charges will go forward if MacDonald’s informant work is not satisfactory.

Feb. 17-19: Prosecutor agrees to postpone hearing after police say MacDonald “owes them one more bust” before charges can be settled. Prosecutor notes in file that charges will be dismissed if MacDonald’s undercover work is satisfactory.

Feb. 19: Just hours after court hearing, MacDonald is arrested again with methamphetamine in his front pocket and a bag of marijuana stowed inside his truck. MacDonald tells police and his mother that the drugs are the result of his undercover work, which police deny.

Feb. 24: MacDonald’s mother, Cindy, calls prosecutors saying she no longer wants her son to work as an informant. Prosecutor calls police and notes: “All agree minor will not work with cops anymore,”

Mar. 1: MacDonald and his 16-year-old girlfriend go to a Norwalk home. His girlfriend is raped, shot and left for dead in the Angeles National Forest.

Mar. 3: MacDonald’s body is found in a South Los Angeles alley.

Mar. 8-9: Investigators announce the arrest of two suspects: Michael L. Martinez, 21, and Florence L. Noriega, 28, both of Norwalk. A third suspect, Jose A. Ibarra, 19, also of Norwalk, remains at large.

Source: Brea Police Department and Orange County district attorney