Full transcript
0:00she could be anyone's daughter even
0:01yours just out of college and caught
0:04with marijuana but she did not get a
0:07slap on the wrist or jail time she got
0:09an offer from the police chief
0:11investigative correspondent Brian Ross
0:13with a police sting that went very
0:19wrong A Summer Music Festival outside
0:21Tallahassee
0:23Florida the Purple Hatters
0:28Ball 100 of young people Gathering to
0:31celebrate the life of a friend to honor
0:34the memory of a young woman who used to
0:36love to come to events like this one
0:39wearing a distinctive purple hat
0:4223-year-old Rachel
0:44Hoffman anybody she met she loved Rachel
0:48a recent graduate of nearby Florida
0:50State University was found murdered two
0:53months ago betrayed and abandoned by
0:56people who tried to use her according to
0:58her distraught parents Margie and Irv my
1:01heart is broken over this this is A
1:04parents worst nightmare she was
1:07beautiful she was talented she loved
1:12music when her parents sent their only
1:14child off to Tallahassee for college
1:16they remembered Rachel as the little
1:18girl with a big smile and a great
1:21[Music]
1:23future a devoutly Jewish teenager she
1:26loved Shabbat she loved being in Temple
1:29she loved the
1:30RAB and she was also a young woman who
1:33fit right in with tallah hass's music
1:35and party scene she's the one in the
1:37floppy purple hat but loved by friends
1:41including Liza Patty she just liked
1:45music and liked life and loved people
1:47and loved her cat and her family and
1:50really spiritual and she's an all around
1:53great girl but to the Tallahassee Police
1:55Rachel Hoffman was a criminal caught
1:58twice in a little over a year with
2:00marijuana Rachel Hoffman was committing
2:03crimes in in the city of Tallahassee yes
2:05she was police chief Dennis Jones says
2:07Rachel Hoffman was no innocent the
2:1023-year-old woman that you're talking
2:12about was was a college graduate and she
2:14was making a living off of U off of
2:17selling illegal drugs the first time
2:19Rachel was caught was last year this is
2:22her booking photo with tears streaming
2:24down her face during a traffic stop
2:27police found marijuana that's my my job
2:30as a police chief is to find these
2:32criminals in in our community and to
2:34take them off the street to make the
2:36proper arrest instead of jail Rachel was
2:38sent to a drug court diversion program
2:41all charges would be dropped if she
2:43stayed clean for a year as soon as she
2:45was done with that program she was going
2:47to go to culinary school in
2:48Arizona but tallahassee's bar scene
2:51continued to draw Rachel in and she
2:53began again to use marijuana and to sell
2:56small amounts to her friends but she
2:59wasn't n like a major figurehead in like
3:02the Tallahassee drug ring or anything
3:04like that I mean it was just just a
3:06little bit of pot to her friends then
3:09this April based on a tip police raided
3:12Rachel's apartment and found what they
3:14say was enough to Warrant a felony
3:16charge for running a drug housee and we
3:19found U roughly a qu pound of of
3:22marijuana uh was present during a search
3:24warrant for sure if you were to hold
3:25that how much would that be baggie a
3:28baggie yes baggy and chief Jones says
3:32officers also found volume and ecstasy
3:35how much that was uh I think uh there
3:37were six pills that were P yes is that a
3:41lot it's not not a lot but it's it's
3:43enough to make it a felony under Florida
3:45law Rachel Hoffman's six pills and the
3:48baggy of marijuana might have met 4
3:51years in state prison she was really
3:53scared you know they told her that she
3:55could go to jail for four or 5 years you
3:57know that would when you're 23 that's
3:59that's an eternity but Liza says the
4:02police offered Rachel a way out become
4:04an informant and no charges would be
4:06filed prosecutors and the drug court
4:09would never know they wanted her to um
4:12to turn in some of her friends you know
4:15for for pot and you know Rachel was so
4:17loving I mean for for marijuana she
4:19wasn't about to ruin some of her friends
4:21lives then Rachel's friends and parents
4:24say police pushed her to go after some
4:26BigTime drug dealers on the Tallahasse
4:29SC I think they emotionally blackmailed
4:31and emotionally manipulated her you
4:33don't think she was pushed into it
4:36coerced by your officers threatened with
4:38prison for charges that were never
4:42filed again we don't threaten people to
4:45become confidential informance he do
4:47that's not part of how we operate no sir
4:49under her deal with the police Rachel
4:51according to court records arranged to
4:53meet with two men she had never known or
4:56met before Andrea Jabar green and Deno
5:00Bradshaw the police wanted a big bust
5:02and they told Rachel to tell the two men
5:05she wanted to buy cocaine 1500 ecstasy
5:08pills and a weapon a handgun a big step
5:12up for a smalltime pot dealer Rachel was
5:15not in law enforcement she had never
5:18taken any police training courses or
5:20classes she had never taken a class on
5:23Firearms had never fired a gunner in her
5:27life as the confidential informant the
5:30CI Rachel was to go to a city park and
5:33meet the two men alone carrying $133,000
5:36in marked bills wearing a hidden
5:39microphone a major Sting the kind
5:42usually left to professional law
5:44enforcement
5:45officers what sort of training did she
5:49receive Brian as far as the training
5:52there the she she receives as far as
5:55training for uh as a CI we don't provide
5:58training for uh CIS we we provide
6:01instruction but no no training no sir
6:03Rachel called her mother on Passover to
6:05tell her she was going to be involved in
6:07a police sting and I said are you
6:09kidding me don't do it you know I'll
6:12have to call your dad cuz this is wrong
6:14this is very wrong and she said Mom I
6:17don't want you telling anybody I don't
6:19want you to tell Dad I don't want you to
6:21tell my lawyer I don't want you to tell
6:23you know the drug court because I'm
6:26getting all my charges dropped so I can
6:28get out at drug court early
6:30Rachel called her father just hours
6:32before the sting operation was to begin
6:35she said Dad I'm really thinking about
6:37you
6:37today and I said to her uhoh you need
6:41money she said no she said I'm just
6:44thinking about you today and that was my
6:47last conversation with
6:50her thinking she was safe in the hands
6:53of the Tallahassee Police Rachel Hoffman
6:55headed out for her undercover mission in
6:58the rural outskirts of town
7:00a mission that would end tragically down
7:02this deserted Florida
7:05road when 23-year-old Rachel Hoffman was
7:08arrested on marijuana charges and agreed
7:10to become a police informant the
7:13Tallahassee Police promised they would
7:15protect her and the obligation really
7:17it's the same as we do with our own
7:18employees we want to you know provide
7:20safety that did not happen with Rachel
7:23Hoffman her police handlers lost her as
7:26she drove down this deserted Road
7:28following the these two men who police
7:31say were going to sell her a large
7:32quantity of drugs and a gun the police
7:35chief now blames Rachel for following
7:38the two suspects away from the original
7:40meeting place we know that uh the plan
7:43that we had in place was deviated uh
7:46from it was there was a change of plans
7:49and and unfortunately Rachel was decided
7:51to deviate from that plan and not meet
7:54at the predetermined location and so it
7:57was her fault uh no I I I don't want