TPD officers in Hoffman case placed on leave with pay

The supervisors and lead officer in the botched drug sting that ended in informant Rachel Hoffman's death have been placed on administrative leave with pay by the Tallahassee Police Department.
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The five officers were placed on leave Monday and will remain so until a department internal-affairs investigation into Hoffman's death is complete, Police Chief Dennis Jones said this afternoon.

TPD spokesman David McCranie said the officers are Capt. Chris Connell; Lt. Taltha White; Sgt. Rod Looney; Sgt. David Odom; and Investigator Ryan Pender.

Jones made the decision Monday after receiving the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's evidence from the Hoffman case and reviewing the grand jury's findings, McCranie said.

Jones has also added three officers to help expedite the internal-affairs investigation, doubling the number of officers usually assigned to that duty.

Hoffman, 23, was working for police as a confidential informant when she was killed May 7, after the plan for her to buy drugs and a gun went awry. Police lost track of her, and her body was found 36 hours later in Taylor County. Andrea Green, 25, of Perry, and Deneilo Bradshaw, 23, of Tallahassee, have been indicted in the FSU graduate's murder.

Connell and White headed the vice unit until June 7. That's when Jones moved the unit under Criminal Investigations Division Capt. David Hendry. At that time, Lt. Joani Chase was made vice supervisor and White was reassigned as a supervisor in the Administrative Services Division.

In its presentment last week that cited police negligence in Hoffman's death, a Leon County grand jury reported the vice lieutenant — White — signed off on the flawed buy-bust plan but didn't actually read it. Grand jurors also said she was in charge of monitoring radio transmissions during the deal but was conducting a computer audit at the same and was distracted.

"We believe the command staff was negligent in its review of the (operation) plan and supervision of the transaction," grand jurors wrote. "With the exception of the sergeant who remained active in making decisions as matters developed during the transaction, the level of supervision was nonexistent."

The Tallahassee Democrat received a tip Tuesday morning that the officers had been suspended. McCranie would not confirm the information, saying that facts would be provided in the afternoon. At 3 p.m., he informed the Democrat of a 4:30 p.m. news conference with Chief Jones.

According to information provided by the department:

# Division commander Connell, with the department for 22 years, was a vice investigator for about a year and was top man in charge for about three and a half years.

# White, a 20-year TPD veteran, had been a supervisor for about four months before Hoffman was killed and had no previous experience in the vice unit.

# Looney, at TPD for 15 years, worked as a vice investigator for nearly seven years and had been a vice supervisor for about a year.

# Odom, with 14 years at the department, had been a vice supervisor for about four months after serving more than six years as a stand-out investigator with the unit.

# Pender, who has been with TPD seven years and was Hoffman's main contact, had been working as a vice investigator for about 18 months.

In their last three annual evaluations, all five officers received the department's highest marks of "consistently goes beyond" or "consistently exemplary."

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs...NEWS/808050331

Sounds like a paid vacation to me. Chief Jones and David McCranie need to be removed from duty also, for all the things they have said.