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Police Chastised In Death Of Snitch

Photo from the Hoffman family

Rachel Hoffman, a 23-year-old graduate of Countryside High School in Clearwater, was fatally shot in May while helping with a narcotics investigation.

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By JOSH POLTILOVE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 2, 2008

TAMPA - Police negligence contributed to drug informant Rachel Hoffman's death, a Leon County grand jury said Friday.

Hoffman, a 23-year-old graduate of Countryside High School in Clearwater, was fatally shot in May while helping Tallahassee police with a narcotics investigation.

The grand jury recommended that Tallahassee police discipline the officers participating in the case and change procedures and policies on the use of informants. The panel also indicted Andrea Green, 25, and Deneilo Bradshaw, 23, on first-degree murder charges.

The men were arrested shortly after Hoffman's killing.

State Attorney Willie Meggs told the Tallahassee Democrat that he likely will seek the death penalty.

In response to the grand jury report, city officials said in a statement that police already have taken some of the steps the panel recommended, including the temporary suspension of the use of informants in narcotics operations.

Hoffman's friend Ed Sonnenschein, 53, of Tallahassee, said Friday she might have sold marijuana but she was a great person who didn't deserve to die.

The jury's finding Friday pleased him. He said the officers should be held accountable.

"They should be fired," he said. "They should be prosecuted."
Sonnenschein said Hoffman, a graduate of Florida State University, was fun and had a great sense of humor. When he first met her, he said, it was like he had known her for 10 or 20 years.

"Sadly, she had that one youth problem - thinking that you're invincible and know it all," he said.

Before the drug deal that led to Hoffman's death, she called investigators to tell them the location of the meeting had changed. Investigators explicitly told her to stay at the park location set up by narcotics officers, Tallahassee police spokesman David McCranie said in May. Instead, he said, Hoffman hung up.

Hoffman violated protocol when she left the location secured by police for the deal, McCranie said.

Police never saw her alive again. Her body was found in rural Taylor County, southeast of Tallahassee.

After her death, Tallahassee police defended their use of Hoffman as a confidential informant. Her family and friends said police put an unprepared young woman into a dangerous situation.

The undercover operation began when Hoffman agreed to work with police after being arrested on several drug charges, including possession of more than 20 grams of marijuana and possession with intent to sell ecstasy.

Hoffman appeared to make a good informant because she was 23, mature and intelligent - someone police thought would follow directions well, McCranie said. She was the one who suggested police investigate Green and Bradshaw, McCranie said.

About 800 friends and family members gathered in May for Hoffman's funeral service.

"She packed a lot of life in her 23 years," her father, Irv Hoffman, said at the time. "And I wish I was more like her, celebrating life."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at jpoltilove@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7691.

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