https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/402/40cases.shtml

Professional snitch Marc Craven of Portland was a pro. He could bring in the information needed to bust alleged drug users and dealers. The problem, as noted in an investigative report published by the McMinnville News-Register last month, was that Craven has a long history of entrapment and a felony criminal record.

That didn't stop the Yamhill County Interagency Narcotics Team from employing him this year in a four-month undercover operation, although to be fair, the county now claims it had no knowledge of his past exploits. But it is enough for Yamhill County District Attorney Bard Berry to drop the charges in some 40 cases ginned up by Craven. Most of them involved the sale of small amounts of marijuana. Berry announced at the end of last month that he is abandoning those cases.

"Today the Yamhill County district attorney is dismissing all cases based primarily on the involvement of informant Marc Craven," Berry said in a news release. "This office will continue to pursue prosecution on approximately five cases that involve Mr. Craven tangentially or that involved the delivery of a large quantity of illegal drugs."

In the 1980s, Craven enticed young people into selling him small amounts of pot with promises of high-paying jobs in construction or landscaping. Those tactics led to the dismissal of at least 33 cases. He was up to the same old dirty tricks in the current round of busts, which netted some 47 people in June, most of them suppliers of small amounts of weed at Craven's repeated request.

According to the Associated Press, the move to dismiss the charges against more than 40 defendants was supported by Yamhill County Sheriff Jack Crabtree, who serves on the policy board on the narcotics team. No word yet on why the team hired this discredited snitch in the first place.

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