It might even prompt them to deliver exaggerated or false information. Drug agents say that they independently confirm what informants tell them. Court records show that false allegations from informants can snowball into felony charges against innocent people. Police and prosecutors continue to employ informants. They insist that without paid informants, the war on drugs could barely be fought, if at all.
All informants sign such an agreement.
Hicks apparently forgot about that part of the agreement. Perhaps the drug agents who handled him forgot as well. He had been arrested a week earlier on a battery charge, which was later dismissed. He was arrested and convicted for shoplifting the following month, while still on parole. He was later convicted on the shoplifting charge, while the battery was dismissed.