Feds nab informant framing man for her own drug buy

TACOMA — An undercover informant faces up to 20 years in prison after federal prosecutors say she framed a Cowlitz County man, fooling narcotics task force agents into thinking she had bought illegal painkillers from him.

Prosecutors dismissed a felony drug indictment against the 21-year-old Kelso man, described as a former standout high-school athlete with no criminal history.

The informant, Tina Rivard, 40, pleaded guilty last Friday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to charges of obstructing justice and conspiracy to obstruct a criminal investigation.

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