People v. Daniels CA2/1

BACKGROUND

1. The narcotics task force and Johnny A. In early 2010, officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), including Detective Craig Piantanida, and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), including Special Agent Kevin Schadt, formed a joint narcotics task force targeting sellers in the LAPD’s Southwest Division. Members of the task force “cultivated” eight to ten informants, who were paid to make controlled purchases of narcotics while wearing equipment that transmitted live audio to the officers and agents and made an audio and video recording of the transactions. To protect the ongoing investigation and the informants, the task force did not arrest any sellers following the controlled purchases. One of the informants utilized by the task force was “Johnny A.,”1 who had previously performed some controlled drug purchases for the LAPD, for which he had been paid a total of $300. Johnny A. testified at trial he had become an LAPD informant because he wanted to “help clean up the streets.” He had wanted to be a police officer, but had a juvenile record. A police sergeant he spoke to passed his name on to Piantanida, who became his handler. At the…