Post by albion on Sept 17, 2016 17:18:54 GMT
This was a good article too. It mentions some of the LE and FBI of the time.
"News from the past: A prank misfires, or doesn’t.
By Christian Burkin | Published: September 17, 2009 | Comments closed
Recently, some research sent me to our paper archives, where stories not yet stored electronically are kept, and I stumbled upon the following story:
Police Prank… ‘Undercover’ Joke Backfires
(Printed Jan. 27, 1979)
A Stockton policeman whose eagerness to be a narcotics officer was well-known to his coworkers was thrilled when he got a letter telling him he had been assigned to work with federal agents on a “special assignment.”
The letter, which appeared to be signed by a deputy police chief, informed Officer David Bentz, 30, that the operation was so secret he must avoid all contact with his fellow officers.
“You are not to report for work beginning Dec. 27, 1978, nor are you to come to the department or telephone until completion of this assignment,” the letter said.
When Bentz missed two days of work, officers Randy Haight and Tino Enebrad realized they had a problem.
Their prank had backfired.
And it cost them money. Haight, 25, and Enebrad, 28, have been ordered by Police Chief Julio A. Cecchetti to forfeit two days of earned overtime for “setting up their coworker.”
Cecchetti, while admitting that he had a chuckle or two over the practical joke, took a dim view of the forging of Deputy Police Chief Lester Novaresi’s name to the letter.
It all started Dec. 26.
Enebrad and Haight knew Bentz longed to work with the police narcotics unit. They schemed to write him a letter temporarily transferring him to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration as of Jan. 1 “for the purpose of covert undercover operations required in and around the Sacramento area.”
The letter, placed in Bentz’s memo box at the Police Department, went on:
“The assignment is a ‘Closed Cover’ operation and you will be working directly with Special Agent Gellerman of the Sacramento DEA. Gellerman will advise you of the nature and details of your assignment and will equip you accordingly. He will also supply you with a vehicle and living quarters.
“Recently, DEA agents have been unsuccessful with this assignment due to a probable leak within their organization. They have therefore sought outside assistance and you will be one of 10 new operatives. Due to the nature of this assignment, silence is greatly emphasized. This includes members of the Stockton Police Department as well as family members.
“You are not to report for work beginning Dec. 27, 1978, nor are you to come to the department or telephone until completion of the assignment.”
It was this last sentence in the letter that caused the practical joke to go further than expected, because Bentz did exactly as directed.
He did not report to work for two days.
He did not answer his telephone or return calls to Haight and Enebrad who were frantically trying to communicate with him.
He did not come to the door when the joke players beat on his door at 4 a.m. one morning and advised who they were.
He obeyed the communique to the letter even when Haight contacted his wife, told her everything was a hoax and asked her to have Bentz call him.
After Bentz had missed two days’ work and Haight and Enebrad had been unable to make contact with him, the two jokers went to Cecchetti and told him what had happened.
Cecchetti was especially irritated at the forging of Novaresi’s signature.
“That detracted from the credibility of a letter or order written by a chief officer, and I cannot tolerate that,” he said when he announced the loss of earned time for Haight and Enebrad.
He told them by letter:
“My job is to train and direct police officers, not punish them. I hope the loss of two days is significant enough to get your attention and turn you in the right direction. You have a future in this department only as long as you learn by your mistakes.”
The chief said Haight and Enebrad were charged with violating a department regulation that says no member of the Police Department shall make a false report or booking.
The bottom line, however, may belong to Bentz.
“If he is that enthusiastic about working narcotics, maybe we will find a place for him over there when there is an opening,” Cecchetti said Friday.
This find has me wondering what else there is to discover in the rest of our yellowing, taped-together clippings.
"News from the past: A prank misfires, or doesn’t.
By Christian Burkin | Published: September 17, 2009 | Comments closed
Recently, some research sent me to our paper archives, where stories not yet stored electronically are kept, and I stumbled upon the following story:
Police Prank… ‘Undercover’ Joke Backfires
(Printed Jan. 27, 1979)
A Stockton policeman whose eagerness to be a narcotics officer was well-known to his coworkers was thrilled when he got a letter telling him he had been assigned to work with federal agents on a “special assignment.”
The letter, which appeared to be signed by a deputy police chief, informed Officer David Bentz, 30, that the operation was so secret he must avoid all contact with his fellow officers.
“You are not to report for work beginning Dec. 27, 1978, nor are you to come to the department or telephone until completion of this assignment,” the letter said.
When Bentz missed two days of work, officers Randy Haight and Tino Enebrad realized they had a problem.
Their prank had backfired.
And it cost them money. Haight, 25, and Enebrad, 28, have been ordered by Police Chief Julio A. Cecchetti to forfeit two days of earned overtime for “setting up their coworker.”
Cecchetti, while admitting that he had a chuckle or two over the practical joke, took a dim view of the forging of Deputy Police Chief Lester Novaresi’s name to the letter.
It all started Dec. 26.
Enebrad and Haight knew Bentz longed to work with the police narcotics unit. They schemed to write him a letter temporarily transferring him to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration as of Jan. 1 “for the purpose of covert undercover operations required in and around the Sacramento area.”
The letter, placed in Bentz’s memo box at the Police Department, went on:
“The assignment is a ‘Closed Cover’ operation and you will be working directly with Special Agent Gellerman of the Sacramento DEA. Gellerman will advise you of the nature and details of your assignment and will equip you accordingly. He will also supply you with a vehicle and living quarters.
“Recently, DEA agents have been unsuccessful with this assignment due to a probable leak within their organization. They have therefore sought outside assistance and you will be one of 10 new operatives. Due to the nature of this assignment, silence is greatly emphasized. This includes members of the Stockton Police Department as well as family members.
“You are not to report for work beginning Dec. 27, 1978, nor are you to come to the department or telephone until completion of the assignment.”
It was this last sentence in the letter that caused the practical joke to go further than expected, because Bentz did exactly as directed.
He did not report to work for two days.
He did not answer his telephone or return calls to Haight and Enebrad who were frantically trying to communicate with him.
He did not come to the door when the joke players beat on his door at 4 a.m. one morning and advised who they were.
He obeyed the communique to the letter even when Haight contacted his wife, told her everything was a hoax and asked her to have Bentz call him.
After Bentz had missed two days’ work and Haight and Enebrad had been unable to make contact with him, the two jokers went to Cecchetti and told him what had happened.
Cecchetti was especially irritated at the forging of Novaresi’s signature.
“That detracted from the credibility of a letter or order written by a chief officer, and I cannot tolerate that,” he said when he announced the loss of earned time for Haight and Enebrad.
He told them by letter:
“My job is to train and direct police officers, not punish them. I hope the loss of two days is significant enough to get your attention and turn you in the right direction. You have a future in this department only as long as you learn by your mistakes.”
The chief said Haight and Enebrad were charged with violating a department regulation that says no member of the Police Department shall make a false report or booking.
The bottom line, however, may belong to Bentz.
“If he is that enthusiastic about working narcotics, maybe we will find a place for him over there when there is an opening,” Cecchetti said Friday.
This find has me wondering what else there is to discover in the rest of our yellowing, taped-together clippings.
