The New Kid

Although he looked older than the other kids, he tried to fit in by wearing punk T shirts. There was something oddly out of place about George Moore, the new addition to the senior class at Midlothian High, 30 miles outside Dallas. Last week all of Midlothian (pop. 7,500) learned Moore's secret: he was really George Raffield Jr., 21, a rookie officer working undercover for the local police department to ferret out drug use among the 765 students. On Oct. 24 his body was discovered in a clump of cedar trees near town, a .38-cal. bullet hole in the head. "His cover was blown, and he was murdered because of it," said a Texas Ranger investigating the case.

The killing stunned residents of the blue-collar community, where many were unaware that a drug problem existed. "Ours is no worse than other towns, certainly not as bad as Dallas," said School Counselor Perry Elkins. At the trim pebblestone school, where short skirts and exposed shirttails are banned, only four students have been dismissed for drug use in four years, and a surprise inspection with drug-sniffing dogs last year turned up nothing.

Nonetheless, last May the city council responded to pleas from City Manager Chuck Pinto and Police Chief Roy Vaughn by authorizing $10,000 for a larger community narcotics operation. "We had suspicions that things were going on," explained Pinto. In July Raffield, a short, muscular ex-police dispatcher from a neighboring town, was hired and assigned to undercover work.

At the school, Raffield quickly aroused suspicion. "When someone tries so hard to fit in fast, you know something is wrong," said a teenager familiar with the scene. Raffield obviously was not a typical student. For one thing, ( the school assigned him three lunch periods. Some students called him "21 Jump Street," after the TV show about undercover cops on the high school beat.

At 11 each night, the young officer phoned his supervisor with an intelligence report, but his activity led to no arrests. Then, after a Friday- night football game, Raffield failed to call in. Acting on a tip, police searched for and found his body the next day. Hours later they arrested Richard Goeglein Jr., 17, and a 16-year-old who is the son of a Dallas police officer.

Chief Vaughn insists that he would have yanked Raffield out if anyone had realized the danger. Says Justice of the Peace Glen Ayers: "Something went badly wrong. We're all trying to find out why."