Informant’s ‘Bonus’ Covers Bad Checks

A paid police informant behind a highly publicized gang crackdown in Santa Ana used a police “bonus” to repay nearly $6,000 in bad checks he wrote during the case, his attorney said Monday.

Jose Nolasco made the restitution as part of a plea bargain in which his case was reduced to a misdemeanor, defense lawyer Michael Molfetta said.

Nolasco, a convicted felon, helped Orange County prosecutors obtain 125 indictments by buying drugs and stolen goods from a car outfitted with hidden video cameras in 1999 and 2000.

In his off hours during the undercover probe, Nolasco wrote $5,951 in bad checks to several Orange County businesses. The state attorney general charged Nolasco with three felonies last year for the bad checks, several months after his undercover operation ended. Molfetta said his client will receive no jail time in what he called an “absolute dream deal.” Police paid Nolasco $58,000 in cash and services during the investigation and recently paid him a bonus he used to make good on his bad checks.

The relationship--particularly the bonus payment--was widely criticized by attorneys for suspects arrested during the undercover operation.

Santa Ana police and district attorney’s officials defended the payments, saying Nolasco earned the money by helping to clean up a crime-plagued neighborhood.