In order to be reunited with his infant son before he was placed for adoption, O’Connor decided to work for the investigations bureau.

“I fell in love with him,” O’Connor said of his son. “I did what I could to get out to try to get him back. I was desperate.”

Besides participating in undercover deals, O’Connor also agreed to testify in front of a grand jury in May 2012, resulting in a series of indictments, court records show. His name was listed on the indictment.

He did his part, he said. “I hated it, I was ashamed of it, but I just couldn’t abandon my son. I had to get him back in the family, where he belonged,” O’Connor said.

He filed a plea in the burglary case and was released on his own recognizance in November 2011. O’Connor was arrested for stealing groceries at Walmart in November 2012, according to court records. He said he was shopping for diapers for his son when he thought someone was about to attack him. O’Connor said he fled the store out of fear, pushing the shopping cart, he said. The person who chased him in the store was store security, according to court records.