ATF using mentally disabled in sting operations, then arresting them

[LumosMaxima]

ATF officials defend agents but open door to new training
Group questions use of mentally disabled people in operation

http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/atf-officials-defend-agents-but-open-door-to-new-training-b99168892z1-237078101.html

In a meeting with a disability rights group, top ATF officials defended undercover agents who ensnared mentally disabled people in storefront stings across the nation, but also agreed to consider new training to avoid it happening in the future.

Peter Berns, head of The Arc, met with ATF officials in Washington last week, after he sent a searing letter to Attorney General Eric Holder saying he was "appalled" by the findings of a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation.

The investigation found that the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives used rogue tactics in storefront stings in cities from Portland, Ore., to Pensacola, Fla., using mentally disabled individuals to promote the operations and then turning around and arrested them.

<snip>

In Milwaukee, agents hired Chauncey Wright, who has an IQ of 54, to work at the storefront and arrange for drug and gun deals, later arresting him for his work.

[Egalitarian Thug]

1. It makes me so proud to be an American. n/t

[Aerows]

6. And you would think

that with all of this surveillance they could actually catch wrong-doers. Instead, they are creating them out of innocent people. Make no mistake, someone with an IQ of 54 or a juvenile (which they also used) is a VICTIM in this kind of bullshit, not a criminal. It's the people that set them up that are the real criminals here.

Billions in tax dollars for the security state, yet they have to ruin the life of juveniles and those that are mentally disabled. Sad and criminal.

[SummerSnow]

2. Nauseating

[louis-t]

3. I find this extremely hard to believe.

It makes no sense to make this a policy. This sounds like a hit piece. The article says "stings in cities from Portland, Ore., to Pensacola, Fla., " making it sound like there were hundreds or thousands of them. The article then admits there were 5 cases in question. This reminds me of the Fast and Furious "scandal".

[Aerows]

4. Don't you think once is too many?

And how about them luring in juveniles by allowing them to drink and play video games? There is something awfully wrong at these agencies if with all of this surveillance apparatus they can't find guilty people without using people that would otherwise be innocent and setting them up.

Something horribly, awfully fucking wrong.

[louis-t]

5. This is what they're accused of, is there proof?

There were a lot of accusations in the Fast and Furious "scandal" that turned out to be manufactured by NRA types.

[Aerows]

7. So the man with the IQ of 54

that got charged, and the others that were (somehow) found competent to stand trial are faking it? Are you joking?

[kcr]

8. So, that must mean all other accusations are false.

The ATF defends it. That's a clue they're doing it. Not to mention the poor victims actually being charged. You think that's made up?

[louis-t]

11. I read the full article.

Hoo-boy, this really stinks. Preying on desperate people to run up their arrest numbers. I would hope these cases are few and far between.

[Aerows]

12. The FBI is doing this, too

They set up people that might otherwise just be disgruntled with the government and encourage then help them carry out "terrorist" attacks to make it seem like they are doing something.

That's what pisses me off about all the money we are wasting on the NSA. All of that, and they have to entrap, coerce and prey on desperate or innocent people to justify their existence.

[kcr]

14. Yep. It's awful.

I can't imagine being so heartless to do something like that.

[Aerows]

9. Here you go.

The newspaper's investigation found the operation, dubbed Fearless Distributing, was marred by far more than the landlord knew. A machine gun and other weapons had been stolen from an agent's car, the storefront was burglarized, agents arrested the wrong people and hired the brain-damaged man, who had an IQ of 54, to set up gun and drug deals.

The machine gun has not been recovered.



Read more from Journal Sentinel: http://www.jsonline.com/tablet/specialreports/atf-uses-rogue-tactics-in-storefront-stings-across-the-nation-b99146765z1-234916641.html#ixzz2oi5jxgiz
Follow us: @JournalSentinel on Twitter

Feel free to read the entire article. Numerous incidents are listed. Do you think http://www.thearc.org/ sent a letter to Eric Holder for no reason? Do you think Eric Holder agreed to investigate for no reason?

http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/justice-department-supports-probe-into-atf-rogue-tactics-b99160443z1-235180371.html

[Aerows]

10. This is bad

They did some horrible things.

http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/atf-uses-rogue-tactics-in-storefront-stings-across-the-nation-b99146765z1-234916641.html

The scope of what they did goes beyond just entrapping the mentally ill, they preyed on juveniles, too. They tore up buildings and stuck the landlords with the bill.

[Marblehead]

13. unamerican....

sounds like to me

[madville]

15. Nothing is unbelievable

When it involves the ATF or DEA

[jsr]

16. Lazy. Cowardly. Despicable.