(These entries are comprised of actual news article quotes. Parts deemed insignificant by this editor have been omitted. u***** " has been substituted for some names.) Los Angeles Times
The state Personnel Board on Tuesday overturned the suspension of a top drug enforcement official who was accused of "inexcusable neglect of duty," deciding instead to formally reprimand him for giving out too many keys to his bureau's evidence vault. More than $3 million worth of cocaine was stolen last summer from the state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement's ***** office. The crime has never been solved, but it did lead to both stepped-up security and allegations of shoddy management against the head of the office. He was accused of failing to follow standard safeguards in protecting evidence and misappropriating state property by allowing several employees, as well as his own daughter, to take home state computers. An administrative law judge who first heard *****'s appeal in August had recommended that the five-day suspension be upheld. That was based on *****'s failure to properly limit the number of employees who had keys to the bureau's evidence vault. Investigator's found that ***** was not even aware of several people
who had keys and the combination to the vault, although it has not been
determined whether any bureau employees including an agent who has since
been charged with drug trafficking - were responsible for the 1997 theft
of about 650 pounds of cocaine at the office.
Newsday
The case of a Brooklyn double homicide may be in jeopardy after a crucial piece of evidence - the car where the bodies were hidden - was stolen from a police parking lot where it was being safeguarded for trial, authorities acknowledged yesterday. ***** said police informed him that the car was stolen from a ***** Precinct lot three months after it was found. But ***** said he also had received a conflicting police memo indicating that the car could have been towed by the City Department of Sanitation and then lost by them. Assistant District Attorney ***** acknowledged that the car had been stolen but argued that this did not mean the jury should not hear forensic evidence about it. Los Angeles Times
The criminal investigation into a ***** police officer accused of stealing six pounds of cocaine has broadened into a wider corruption probe, with detectives acting on tips from informants and narcotics dealers who say the nine year veteran and other officers stole drugs and money from street dealers. *****, a former Marine, worked undercover narcotics and anti-gang assignments as well as patrol, police said. Detectives are looking into the personal contacts he made within and outside the department during all his assignments. Details of the widening probe into other officers comes one day after prosecutors revealed that a pound of cocaine was discovered missing from the ***** station in February. Prosecutors also accused ***** of criminal activity beyond the March 2nd theft of the six pounds of cocaine from an ***** property room. Newsday
A ***** court officer was arrested yesterday charged with stealing thousands of dollars worth of drugs that were evidence in a drug possession trial, prosecutors said yesterday. *****, a 7-year veteran and senior court officer at the State Supreme
Court in ***** was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance
among other charges. Prosecutors report that a detective who came to return
the drugs to the Police Department's property clerk's office discovered
that six ounces of crack cocaine and more than five ounces of marijuana
were missing from a walk-in safe at the ***** courthouse. In addition to
the criminal possession charge, ***** faces charges of burglary, grand
larceny, tampering with public records and official misconduct. He faces
a life sentence if convicted of the felony drug possession charge, prosecutors
said. Copyright © 1998 International Association for Property and Evidence, Inc. Reprinted from the Evidence Log, Volume 1998, Number 3, Page 7 |
