Undercover Cop Tricks Autistic Student into Selling Him Weed (Full Length)

First and last name? My first name is Jessie My last name is Snodgrass Have you ever sold drugs at Chapperal High School? Nope You've never sold drugs to any students there? No sir. No? Okay. Do you know who this is? Nope You sure? Yea, I'm sure Daniel? It was the first thing he said when I spoke to him on the phone. It was... not "Mom I got locked up" But he said: "Mom do you remember my friend?" And I said "Yes" And he said: "He's a cop". The war on drugs is still going strong in America. Even though states like Colorado and Washington have legalized weed federal grants still reward local police departments based on the sheer numbers of drug arrests they report incentivising local cops to target the most vulnerable on December 11, 2012 22 high school students were arrested in Temecula, California a sunny suburb just east of LA It was the culmination of what authorities called Operation Glass House. A twenty one jump street style undercover sting. Adult police officers posed as students in two high schools. They went to class, did homework, and tried to get kids to sell them illegal drugs on campus This is the story of Jessie Snodgrass, an autistic teenager who was one of the students arrested that day At the beginning of his senior year Jessie thought he had made a new friend. A fellow student named Daniel Briggs But, this friendship was a sham Daniel Briggs was in fact Deputy Daniel Zipperstein, a cop in his mid 20's. Ever since his arrest Jessie has suffered from PTSD So he didn't want to talk to us on camera. But he wants his story known. His parents: Dug and Catherine Snodgrass; welcomed us into their home to talk about how Operation Glass House affected their son. And what they are doing to fight back. This is the story of how the war on drugs prays on the most vulnerable. Did Jesse have many friends growing up? Well that's always been a big challenge for Jessie. He has no friends. Senior year he made a new friend right? Yeah it was huge progress we felt it was a milestone in Jessie's life. It seemed like God sent to us. On one of the very first days of school Daniel asked Jessie to get him some marijuana So you do know who that is. Yeah. Do you know his name Daniel Briggs Have you ever sold Daniel Briggs drugs? *shakes head in denial* We know that you've sold drugs. But, I just gave him some cause he was just all like I need this. So, Daniel asked Jessie to get him some marijuana. He also gave him some money, 20 dollars to get it from Jessie didn't know where to get it. It started texting him relentlessly making requests. You know bugging him. He agonized over this for some time. He decided to go to a dispensary, a marijuana dispensary. and He found some guy who Jessie says he thinks was a homeless guy who was near there and He gave him the 20 dollars and got a very small amount of marijuana for it. And that 's what he supplied to Dan. He was charged with two felony counts of selling marijuana. Oh and there it is. That's the amount of weed. Ha! 20 dollars, .6 grams *chuckles* that's outrageous I think he was really worried about how am I going to do this because if I don't i'm going to lose my friend You know his only friend. He was desperate. This is the beginning where he just sort of starts to retreat. And, you know it's really hard to get his attention. You know you would kind of clap your hands loudly in front of him and he wouldn't flinch. At around age 2 his speaking just stopped he just stopped. Being aware of things is just not here He'll start noticing he is looking away from the camera almost all the time.Where he would just sit in the corner, by himself and kind of wave his hand in front of his face like this for hours. His behavior was becoming more and more isolating. I went out of my way to find him play dates. Kids would come over and I would make sure they'd have a really good time because I'd want to kind of encourage any friendships not would be one time only. I don't think he would ever have more then one play date. Did you at all feel like the betrayal that ended up happening with the undercover cop was kinda like there's echo's of various things that happened through his lifetime. Absolutely, well it was the biggest betrayal. But it was one more. You're right. He wasn't even upset at being locked up. He was just so so upset that this person betrayed him And he said: "Mom. I was only trying to help him. I thought I was doing the right thing." And that people who do this are viewed as heroes. That's beyond me. What and that seems almost so. So insidious about his that he was reacting out of empathy. That he was showing it by his actions. He was trying to help out a friend Yeah. Which I suppose for his condition is quite remarkable Yeah. Yeah, that was for him to be able to do that. Was you know would be considered a break through in anyone else's circumstances He was being bullied for being different the word "retard" was used at him a lot. He still reacts really strongly to that word In response to all this bullying that was happening, He was trying to make himself unapproachable. He cut his hair off. Cut it real short to like a buzz cut. Started wearing T-shirts with metal militia type logos. Gave him a tough guy persona. Most of the students knew Daniel was a cop. On campus his nickname was Deputy Dan. He was always asking for drugs, always asking you know like where I can get this and if he would hear he would jump into conversations just asking for drugs. Did Temecula have any sort of history being a drug town like where kids get high all the time. Not that we've ever heard of. Temecula was named the second safest city in America.

Channel: VICE

Views: 6,232,534

Rating: 4.8252096 out of 5

Keywords: weed, weediquette, entrapment, police, cops, Jesse Snodgrass, asperger's, Asperger's Syndrome, undercover cop, high school, pot, the story of jesse snodgrass, vice documentary, documentary on jesse snodgrass, 21 Jump Street, documentary, documentaries, interview, interviews, culture, wild, lifestyle, world, exclusive, independent, underground, videos, funny, funny videos, journalism, vice guide, vice presents, vice news, vbs.tv, vice.com, vice, vice magazine, vice mag, vice videos

Id: 8af0QPhJ22s

Length: 24min 30sec (1470 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 16 2014

Reddit Comments

[u/Pogrebnyak]

So instead of spending funds and manpower on busting actual drug dealers they create new ones just so they can bust them? Smart move there

[u/ScrumpleRipskin]

Check out This American Life's audio clip, 21 Chump Street. Cute undercover cop flirted with a boy and continuously asked and begged him for pot until he finally relented to impress her. BOOM! Arrested.

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/457/what-i-did-for-love?act=2

[u/TehChesireCat]

Wtf, 'entrapment'... Is this legal in the US?

In Belgium it's not allowed, when it get's used the defendant basically get's a 'Get ouf of court for free' card

[u/jayy962]

Out of 22 kids 9 were special education. Fuck that. Fuck everything about this story.

[u/rolling_n_stoned]

.6 grams? Are you fucking serious?

[u/arthurfaggot]

vice should hire more interviewers like this guy instead of the unbearable hipsters they for some reason seem to really endorse

[u/MightierThanThou]

There's this huge oxymoron I've noticed about drug laws. Supposedly drug laws exist to keep us safe from ourselves, because drugs are harmful. Yet in many cases the effect of the law and the justice system on people's lives is much worse than the effect the drugs themselves have. The only people who seem to benefit from this system are the people who have based their careers on busting drug users or drug dealers. It's predatory. We're locking people in cages and damaging their lives in a more profound way than their own drug use would ever do, so that police can justify and keep their jobs.

Even ignoring cases like this where undercover police entrap a young person and manipulate them into selling them drugs for no reason other than to meet a quota, the very idea that we've been conditioned with, of robbing someone of their freedom because they use drugs is completely insane. We will put someone in a cage for drugs when their drug use affects nobody but themselves, and may not even affect them in a negative way individually. It makes no fucking sense.

"I think that drug use is wrong, so if you use drugs in your home and don't hurt anybody in the process, I'm still going to arrest you and turn you into a caged animal. My sense of morals is more important than your sovereignty as an individual to make decisions for yourself."

What the fuck.

[u/AlbinoWhiteRhino88]

I live in the next town over from where this took place, his family is suing the school district and the riverside county sheriffs dept. They go to a different high school every year, make friends with kids and basically coerce kids into getting their "new friend" drugs and then arrest them at the end of the school year. It's straight out of 21 jump street!!!

[u/bearborg2]

Outside my house drug deals take place DAILY,my neighbors and I sent tons of evidence to the police and have complained about the area going down hill and all the drug acitvity (Alot of low lifes buying up property and turning them into drug houses )

The police refused to do anything because they didn't want to start a "war" ,so my neighbor put a sign outside their house and contacted the local paper?The result was nothing happening besides my neighbor getting death threats and her house and car windows smashed.

Even after all the threats the police did NOTHING ,no we've given up and hope to save up and get the hell out of here.

http://m.thetimes-tribune.com/news/west-side-husband-wife-battle-drug-dealers-1.1394904