DRNC

DNRC-Written Exercise 6

DRNC Scenario

This scenario corresponds with Course Learning Outcome 5 (see below).

Learning Outcome 5: Analyze the role of the corrections professional in dealing with the myriad of

community issues.

Background

The following story is a fictional account of planning and preparation leading up to the mythical

Democratic-Republican National Convention (DRNC) event in Miami, Florida. The story is loosely based

on an amalgamation of real life occurrences in the lead up to the Free Trade Area of the Americas

conference in Miami, Florida in 2003. The names of all the characters in the story are fictional.

Emergency Meeting of the Tampa JTTF and Miami JTTF (Ten weeks before the beginning of the DRNC)

An emergency meeting was called by FBI Assistant Special Agent in-Charge (ASAC) Fred Taggart of the

Tampa Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). Also present at the meeting were Detectives Amy Underwood

and Sheila Freeman, undercover agents temporarily detached to the Tampa JTTF from the Pasco County

and Pinellas County Sheriff’s Offices, respectively. The meeting was called to discuss a possible sexual

harassment issue that was brought to the attention of ASAC Taggart by detectives Underwood and

Freeman.

As Detective Underwood’s supervisor, Lieutenant James Crocker, the Commander of the Pasco County

Criminal Intelligence Unit sat in on the meeting. Also attending via teleconference call from the Miami

JTTF office were FBI-Miami ASAC Felicia Fontaine, and FBI-Miami Supervisory Special Agent Tim Johnson.

ASAC Taggart began the meeting from his Tampa FBI office, “good afternoon Felica and Tim. I apologize

for calling this hasty meeting, but we have an issue to discuss… and I thought that we needed to move

quickly on this. I have Detectives Amy Underwood and Sheila Freeman in the room with me on speaker

phone, as well as Lieutenant James Crocker from Pasco Sheriff’s Office.

From the Miami FBI office, ASAC Fontaine responded, “good afternoon Fred… I have you on speaker

phone too, but it’s just me and Tim in my office. You can speak freely.”

Taggart responded, “OK Felicia, let me summarize what has happened so far, so that we’re all on the

same page on this.”

“OK… go ahead,” responded Fontaine.

Taggart proceeded, “as you know, Amy and Sheila have been working undercover for us for the past six

months, and they have been able to infiltrate the Ruckus Society’s training camp in Arcadia, Florida. As

you know… your office asked us to get as much real-time intelligence on the planning of protests for the

DRNC in Miami that’s coming up in a few weeks. The information that these two detectives have

provided us so far has been invaluable.”

“Yes it has… thank you. I give a lot credit to these two brave young ladies. Let them know that their

work is greatly appreciated down here. Because of them we have been able to get pretty accurate

intelligence to help the planners of the security for the convention down here in Miami,” responded

Fontaine.

“Thank you for saying that Felicia. I feel the same way. These two are doing a bang-up job… and staying

away from home for such an extended period of time has been a real hardship for them. They are both

to be commended,” answered Taggart.

“Go on…” said Fontaine.

Taggart continued, “but here’s the problem. This morning, Lieutenant Crocker brought a matter of great

urgency to my attention. I’ll ask Lieutenant Crocker to explain.”

Crocker leaned over to the speaker phone in the middle of the conference table, “hello Sheila… hello

Tim… it’s good to meet you… even if it’s on the phone. I have heard a lot about the good work both of

you are doing down in Miami.”

Fontaine responded, “Hi Lieutenant… it’s good speak with you. Tim is right next to me, and he sends his

regards as well.”

Crocker continued, “OK… let me get to the point. Yesterday Amy Underwood was perusing the Internet

and she was looking for registered sexual offenders in her area, and she came up with Pierre’s name on

the list of sexual predators…”

Fontaine interrupted, “uhh… who is Pierre? don’t know who that is.”

Special Agent Tim Johnson chimed in, “Felicia, Pierre is James Pierre. You know him as CI 13-01. He’s

the confidential informant who has been feeding us information about some of the Black Bloc groups

that are planning to protest at the DRNC this year. Pierre has been integral in our efforts to gain access

to the top leadership of these groups.”

Felicia continued, “OK…I’m familiar with CI 13-01. From what I understand, he’s been an invaluable

source for us.”

Taggart interrupted, “yes, I’ve heard the same, but we have a major problem here. We have out two

undercover detectives, going deep undercover, and living with these protestors 24 hours a day… seven

days a week for the past couple of months. Just to get them here into my office today was a major

undertaking, so as not to arouse any suspicion. I’d like to hear from Amy…”

Detective Underwood leaned toward the speaker phone and began, “Hello Agent Fontaine… Agent

Johnson. I’m sorry to have opened this can of worms, but I was feeling very uncomfortable around

Pierre… especially after I found out that he was a registered sexual predator.”

Fontaine countered, “hello Amy… it’s good to meet you… I’ve heard so many good things about the

work that you and Sheila have been doing. You don’t have to apologize about anything… tell me some

more.”

Underwood continued, “well… nothing severe has happened yet, but this guy Pierre gives me the

creeps. Sheila and I have been talking about it for a while now. She gets the same feelings about him.

He’s never touched either one of us, but he’s always staring at us, and looking us up and down.”

“Go on…” said Fontaine.

Underwood went on, “he’s just real creepy. He says sexually suggestive things to us all the time and has

this creepy smile. Normally I wouldn’t give too much thought to this, but when I found out that he was

on the Florida Registered Sexual Predator list…”

Fontaine turned to Agent Johnson, “Tim were you aware that CI 13-01 was a sexual predator?”

“Yes m’am… we’re aware of it, but every CI is a bad guy. I don’t have to tell you that,” countered

Johnson.

“Being a bad guy is one thing… but being a registered sexual offender is another,” said Fontaine.

Lieutenant Crocker interrupted, “Sheila, he’s more than a sexual offender… he’s a sexual predator. We

looked at his rap sheet and he has a long list of sexual offenses going back to the late 80s. The worst

was a violent sexual battery in 2002, where he held a knife to the neck of his female victim while he

raped her. He served some prison time for that one, but he’s been out of jail for over two years now.

This guy is a not a nice guy… to say the least.”

“Felicia,” ASAC Taggart chimed in, “I realize that CI 13-01 has been a great source for your team down

there, but we can’t allow this situation to continue the way it is now.”

Fontaine asked, “OK… fill me in here because I’m new to this case. Is 13-01 aware of our two

undercovers?”

Agent Johnson replied, “no m’am, he’s not aware of them. They know him, but he doesn’t know them.

There’s no need for him to know the identity of our undercover detectives.”

“Well… that’s a relief. I’m glad to hear that… at least,” Fontaine countered.

ASAC Taggart got on, “OK… it sounds like we need to do something here. We have our two undercover

detectives providing us with great real-time information on the moves and intentions of the Black Block

protest groups. On the other hand, we have a very valuable confidential source who is also providing us

with solid and reliable intelligence. The problem is that our two detectives don’t feel comfortable

around this guy… and I can’t say that I blame them. My question to all of you is, what are we going to

do?”

Assignment Instructions

Respond to the following questions regarding the story you have just read.

1. What is/are the key issue(s) in this story?

2. What factors need to be considered to resolve the issue(s)?

3. What recommendations do you make to resolve the issue(s)?

Sources:

The Ruckus Society: http://www.ruckus.org/index.php

Florida Department of Law Enforcement – Florida Sexual Offenders and Predators:

http://offender.fdle.state.fl.us/offender/homepage.do;jsessionid=CNOS9DJGZeeLRoQj22j-

wA__

Cast of Characters in all DRNC Stories

Name Courses Appeared

Description

Timothy Johnson 530, 552, 535, 521

FBI Supervisory Special Agent, JTTF-Miami

Detective Mike Warner 552, 535, 581 Miami-Dade Police, Homeland Security Bureau, JTTF

Trisha Anne McLeod 552, 535 Exotic Dancer

Cristobal (Christopher) Sanchez

552, 535 Trisha’s boyfriend

Johnny Webster 552, 535 Leader of “The Brotherhood” Aryan Nations affiliate

Anibal “Animal” Jacoby 552, 535 Member of “The Brotherhood” Aryan Nations affiliate

Richard DeArmas 552, 535 Lead Assistant U.S. District Attorney, JTTF-Miami

Felicia Fontaine 530, 535, 521 FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC), JTTF Miami

Detective Frank Gomez 552, 535 City of Miami Police, JTTF

Detective Josh Marcussen 552, 535 Broward Sheriff’s Office, JTTF

Detective Fred White 552, 535 Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, JTTF

Melanie Duncan 552, 535 Director, Miami-Dade Police Department, Member of Host Committee

Bob Salinger 552, 535 Broward County Sheriff

Pete Smith 552, 535 Palm Beach County Sheriff

Al Lopez 552, 535 JTTF Surveillance Team (City of Miami PD)

James (Jimmy) Smith 552, 535 JTTF Surveillance Team (Broward Sheriff’s Office)

Phil Rivera 552, 535 JTTF Surveillance Team (Miami-Dade PD)

Lt. Hugo Fuentes 552, 535 Corrupt Lt. from Bay Operations Bureau

Lt. Sylvia Brown 535 MDPD Airport District

Capt. James Watts 535 MDPD Airport District

Sgt. Fernand Newbold 535 MDPD Midwest District Midnight Shift

Major 535 MDPD Airport District

Sgt. MDPD Airport District

Major Louis Beecher 535 Commander of the Bay Operations Bureau (friend of Fuentes)