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Undercover cop, posing as student, busts four drug dealing suspects By JULIE SWENSEN An officer posing as an Illinois Valley High School student netted arrests of three juveniles and an adult in an undercover operation. The officer, who is in his early 20s, posed as a student at the school from January to April. He looked high-school age and enrolled as a student without the staff's knowledge of who he was, said detective Sgt. Carroll Huffman of the Josephine Interagency Narcotics Team. Police had made the school district aware they might take such a step, but didn't say when or where to protect the officer's safety, Huffman said. He said the goal of the program was to target adults who were selling drugs to juveniles. Police had been getting complaints about it. The three boys, who ranged in age from 16 to 17, sold marijuana and were arrested on charges of delivery of a controlled substance, police said. They were referred to the juvenile department. The adult, Shelley Croft, 39, was arrested on a charge of delivery of a controlled substance after selling methamphetamine, police said. She was lodged in the Josephine County Jail. "Our goal is to make it a safer environment for our kids who want to learn," Huffman said. Police in Josephine County did not publicize the arrests earlier in order to keep word about the undercover investigation from getting out. The same officer worked undercover in Brookings before transferring to Illinois Valley, and he then moved on to Prineville. Huffman said 10 people were arrested in Brookings and about 14 people in Prineville. The officer left Brookings because people were becoming suspicious, Huffman said. Huffman added that an Illinois Valley student became suspicious and asked if he was an undercover cop, but then bought drugs from him anyway. The officer is not a Josephine County sheriff's deputy, but is a college graduate who has worked as a reserve officer in Seaside. When he went to the various schools, he would be sworn in as an officer in that jurisdiction. A federal grant paid for his work. Sgt. Jim Anderson of the Jackson County Narcotic Enforcement Team said JACNET has done some undercover operations in schools to a small degree in the past. "We have plans to try to get something started next school year," Anderson said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA