[420 Girl]

A 60-year-old man caught with marijuana in his car became a drug informant to stay out of jail, and he helped detectives make six cases.

He provided evidence against his roommate and gave detectives a tip that led to the arrest of one of his neighbors, all part of a deal that got his charges dropped.

But in one case, he was too eager to help, and a judge threw out the charges last week.

The informant had called his neighbor at least 17 times at work and late at night, begging to buy marijuana to get him through some tough times. Circuit Judge Rick De Furia ruled that this was entrapment.

The case also made the judge question the training and education of the narcotics detectives who made the arrests. The detective did not monitor the informant's behavior, and only swooped in at the end to make an arrest as the drugs were changing hands.

"The court is of the opinion that it was the undercover officer's lack of experience and lack of education regarding the issue of entrapment that led to the unintended result here," De Furia wrote.

Defense attorneys are now requesting records about other drug arrests, looking for other cases where confidential informants were not supervised.

The Sheriff's Office has refused to release the case numbers of the other four cases that the 60-year-old informant helped make, citing a law that protects the identities of confidential drug informants.

The Sheriff's Office has also refused to release records showing how much the informant was paid, or say whether he is still working with detectives.

Defense attorney Don Hartery, who raised the entrapment issue and had the charges against his client dismissed, said the informant was paid about $80 per case and is no longer working with the Sheriff's Office.

Prosecutors are appealing De Furia's ruling.

The informant had his drug possession and criminal driving charges dismissed because of his cooperation.

The first person he provided information about was his roommate, who was charged with misdemeanor drug possession for a small amount of marijuana found in a sock drawer. The roommate entered a pretrial diversion program. It was his first arrest.

Hartery represented the informant's neighbor, Jason Szymanski, in the case. Hartery, who worked as a prosecutor for more than 20 years, said he was shocked to find out the detective left the informant alone to set up a deal in Szymanski's case, and never asked about how it was set up.

"All they did was show up at the deal and do the buy, with no video, no recording," Hartery said.

Informants are subject to some of the same rules as deputies in making a case. But the informant was never instructed about entrapment.

After all the phone calls and at least one personal visit from the informant, Szymanski agreed to split a $120 bag of marijuana with the informant.

Szymanski was arrested for selling drugs, something he had never been charged with before.

"He was trying to help out a friend who was begging," Hartery said. "He just didn't want to do it and he finally caved in."

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