Woman raped twice after being sent ALONE on unmonitored drug sting arrested after she reports crime
ALEXANDRIA, LOUISIANA: According to an investigation by the Associated Press, a female informant was reportedly subjected to two rapes last year while working as part of an undercover narcotics operation. Her handlers in law enforcement did little to protect or supervise her, and even ended up arresting her on other charges once she reported the incident.
On a frosty afternoon last year, the woman approached a run-down drug home wearing a covert camera and tiny microphone, searching for a meth dealer known by the street name "Mississippi". Her law enforcement supervisors left the informant undercover on her own, unguarded and unmonitored in real-time, while the career criminal with a 30-year criminal record entered. The equipment she was carrying captured a crime that was far more horrifying than any drug purchase. According to interviews and secret police documents acquired by The Associated Press, the dealer threatened to use physical force and coerced the woman into having oral sex with him twice in a brazen attack that even included a break for a different drug transaction.
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“It was one of the worst depictions of sexual abuse I have ever seen,” a local official with knowledge of the case told the AP. “Just the audio from it is enough to turn your stomach,” the official said. “It’s a female being sexually brutalized while she’s crying and whimpering.” But the narcotics deputies who remained nearby were unaware of the brutal attack. Authorities informed the AP that they had not considered the possibility of such an assault.
Additionally, they claimed that the woman's equipment could not communicate the procedure to authorities in real time. "Although my people were watching it, it wasn't recording," Rapides Parish Sheriff Mark Wood said, adding that the attack occurred because he had only been the sheriff for six months. “There are always things you learn that you can do better,” he said.
After the lady fled the scene on her own, she got in touch with her handlers, who ordered cops to inspect the house. Records show that Antonio D Jones, 48, was detained on suspicion of second-degree rape, false imprisonment, and meth distribution. Since a client arrived to buy narcotics after the lady entered, the responding deputies reasoned that she "must be OK," according to Lieutenant Mark Parker, the top officer in charge of the operation.
Before the alleged rape of the lady, the sheriff's office did not use technology that records events in real-time, Parker claimed. He said that informants were frequently deployed into sting operations without any equipment. “We've always done it this way," Parker said. “She was an addict and we just used her as an informant like we’ve done a million times before. Looking back, it's easy to say, 'What if?'"
According to the AP, police enforcement frequently employs confidential informants to assist in "working off" their criminal charges. What kind of agreement the woman had with the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office is unclear. However, shortly after she claimed rape, she was charged with possessing drug paraphernalia, which resulted from an arrest made roughly a month earlier. She had previously been charged with possession of drug paraphernalia but was spared jail time by being sent to mental health court. “It’s absolutely horrible,” said her attorney, Harold Murry. “She has a drug problem and I don’t know if she’s going to be able to beat it or not. But when you become a snitch, they keep your drug problem going and then they arrest you for it.”
According to the sheriff, none of the authorities involved in the undercover operation in Louisiana received punishment. No other law enforcement authorities looked into the issue. A representative for the Alexandria Police Department claims that they were not informed of the alleged rape.