Brea Police Deny They Put Teen in Danger

BREA — Even as Brea police continued to deny allegations that they put a 17-year-old in harm’s way, well-placed law enforcement sources confirmed Monday that the police had indeed used the youth as an informant weeks before he was slain.

One of the sources added, however, that Brea police maintain they cut off their relationship with Chad MacDonald Jr. before he was found tortured and strangled at the hands of suspected drug dealers.

The disclosures followed explosive allegations leveled over the weekend by the MacDonald family. An attorney for the family claimed police actions after MacDonald’s arrest on a drug violation in January directly led to his violent death two months later.

Signaling that the full story remained a matter of dispute, Brea Police Chief William C. Lentini said Monday he would seek to open sealed juvenile court records to refute allegations that the use of the Yorba Linda youth as an informant led to his death.

“We are confident in the facts of the case and fully intend to release complete and detailed information responding to the allegations . . . as soon as we are legally able to do so,” Lentini said in a prepared statement.

MacDonald’s body was found in South Los Angeles on March 3, two days after he drove to a Norwalk house known for drug and gang activity. His 16-year-old girlfriend was found later that day, having been raped, shot in the jaw and left for dead in Angeles National Forest.

MacDonald family attorney Lloyd Charton asserts that Brea police pressured the youth to help them after he was arrested Jan. 6 in Yorba Linda on suspicion of possessing a half-ounce of methamphetamine. Charton said MacDonald’s mother, Cindy, agreed to an arrangement with police with the understanding that the youth’s record would be cleared in exchange.

Lentini would not confirm or deny that MacDonald had been enlisted as an informant.

But knowledgeable law enforcement sources confirmed the connection Monday in interviews with The Times.

People familiar with the case say MacDonald appeared in juvenile court Feb. 19 to answer the drug charge. At that time, Charton said, a county prosecutor asked a judge to continue the case for 30 days to enable MacDonald to continue to work with police.

Cindy MacDonald, Charton said, was perplexed at what was happening because she believed her son had helped the authorities enough.

Five days later, she called the deputy district attorney handling the case to complain that Brea police were forcing her son to make drug buys, according to sources. Charton said the youth had helped police make two or three busts.

The prosecutor handling MacDonald’s case expressed his concern to a Brea detective about the way the boy was being used, one source said. The detective responded that police “were no longer working with MacDonald,” the source added.

The prosecutor then called MacDonald’s mother and told her what the detective had said.

But when the prosecutor later read a newspaper report that MacDonald’s body had been dumped in an alley in South Los Angeles, he told his supervisors that he knew the victim had been working on drug cases with Brea detectives.

On March 5, an investigator in the district attorney’s office told homicide detectives in Los Angeles to contact Brea police because the boy had been working with them as an informant, sources said.

A Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokeswoman, Deputy Angie Prewett, said Monday that homicide investigators had no new information to disclose in the case.

Two suspects in MacDonald’s slaying have been arrested: Michael L. Martinez, 21, and Florence L. Noriega, 28, both of Norwalk. An arrest warrant has been issued for Jose A. Ibarra, 19, also of Norwalk.

It was not clear Monday when Lentini’s request to open the MacDonald court file would be heard.

Telephone messages left with Superior Court Judge Ronald E. Owen, who presides over Orange County juvenile courts, were not returned. Receptionists said the judge was traveling Monday and not available.

Charton, the family’s attorney, said he could not support full public disclosure of the court files until he had a chance to review their contents.

In another disclosure, Charton also said that MacDonald had been briefly detained a second time, shortly after the Feb. 19 hearing, on suspicion of drug possession and that his mother was told the youth’s relationship with police was placed in jeopardy.

An Orange County prosecutor said Monday he could not discuss specifics of the case.

“It’s still a juvenile matter; there has not been a [court] order releasing the information in this case,” said Dave Himelson, the supervising deputy district attorney whose office handled the prosecution of MacDonald.

Lentini declined to respond to Charton’s account. The police chief lamented what he said had been “one-sided” coverage of the story.

“The press has listened to allegations and speculations on Mr. Charton’s part that are inaccurate,” Lentini said in a telephone interview. “I’d like to think that the press--I guess I’m fooling myself here--I’d like to think that they recognize that in every dispute there’s more than one person’s view of what the facts are.”

The revelations about MacDonald sparked a debate about how police should handle potential juvenile informants.

Some Orange County police officials said that while they did not wish to criticize their Brea counterparts, their own agencies would not use juveniles.

“Our policy is that we don’t use them,” said Lt. Tom Garner, spokesman for Orange County Sheriff’s Department. “It’s been that way as long as I can remember, and I’ve been here 25 years.” Westminster Police Chief James Cook said much the same.

But Mike Carona, a candidate this year in the election to succeed Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates, said:

“Whenever you use informants, there are a number of inherent risks that you must try to minimize. When you’re talking about using juveniles, you increase those risks. But I don’t believe that alone should prevent having juvenile informants. “

Times staff writer Tini Tran contributed to this report.