Reader: Snitch in Wichita Falls falsely accused man already in prison

In the comments to yesterday's post about snitches in high school, Catonya points to this case where a man was falsely arrested on the word of a snitch in Wichita Falls for a crime allegedly committed two years ago -- even though he was in prison at the time of the offense.

Now, that's just piling on. According to Jessica Langdon in the May 25 Times Record News:

The arrest warrant affidavit stemming from the April 2003 incident gave this account:

A person cooperating with investigators bought a small, pink-tinted, clear plastic bag containing a white powder substance from a man identified as the suspect on Huff Street.

The house sits within 1,000 feet of Bridwell Park. Investigators had the material in the bag analyzed, and found it was 1.24 grams of methamphetamine.

Little said Tuesday authorities suspect someone else used King's name in this case.

He said cases involving false identification do happen on occasion.

Langdon lets the Wichita Falls PD off light, closing the article out by allowing officers to blame the victim, claiming it's "it's important to shred old documents like bills and to keep your driver's license and other important pieces of identification where you know they're secure." But Mr. King wasn't a victim of identity theft: He was falsely accused by a confidential informant acting as an agent of the local police department in an undercover operation! Really, it takes a lot of chutzpah to make that argument -- police must be pretty confident their lapdog press won't question a word they say, and in Wichita Falls they don't.

Finally, Catonya's right: What's the deal with authorities waiting two years after an alleged transaction to arrest somebody for a tiny amount of dope? The only answer could be that this bad snitch has been making lots of other cases for them, likely most of them as rock solid as this muddled accusation.

It would be interesting to find out how many more cases they've made based on the word of this same lying snitch, huh?

Note to readers: You should all consider this model reader behavior!! Please send me stories about snitches, drug task forces, improper searches at traffic stops and other topics this blog covers, especially in Texas. There's too much information in the world to manage if we don't help each other sort it out, and it's impossible to know what policy fixes to propose, e.g., around "snitches," unless you know what's going on out there. Thanks, Cat! I hope your grandpa's health improves.