HEADLINE:  Murder evidence tossed out with trash; 

DATELINE:  Bay St. Louis, Miss. 

The attorney for a man accused of stabbing a woman to death in 1997 says prosecutors have told him that evidence in the capital murder case was accidentally tossed out with the Hancock County Jail trash. 

District Attorney Cono Caranna on Thursday confirmed that evidence had been lost. He would not say if it involved the case of Fritz James Garcia, 44, a convicted rapist, kidnapper and armed robber who is charged with the stabbing death of Ruth K. Tuller of Hancock County. 

Garcia's attorney, Thomas Berry of Bay St. Louis, confirmed that he was told by Caranna's office that evidence was missing in Garcia's case. Garcia is scheduled for trial Dec. 4. 

"I'm not going to let it go by the wayside," Berry said. "What I'm afraid of is if suddenly just before trial it mysteriously shows back up, and we're caught short and can't examine it. It may not happen that way. It may truly be lost. But you know us old defense lawyers; we're kind of suspicious anyway." 

Hancock County Sheriff Steve Garber said he was told last Friday of the missing brown bag containing the murder weapon and other evidence. Caranna said his office has photographs of the weapon, reports from the state Crime Laboratory and other evidence to present in court. 
Garber said a custodian with access to the evidence locker mistakenly threw out the crime scene materials. He said procedural policies will be reviewed and that those responsible for the loss may face disciplinary action. 

Garcia had been living with Tuller, a 55-year-old certified home health care aide, for several months. Police arrested him a couple of days after the murder when he was found acting suspiciously at Singing River Hospital in Pascagoula, wearing a woman's watch and in possession of Tuller's credit cards. 

HEADLINE: Hero cop hit with drug, theft charges; Painkillers missing from evidence room 

DATELINE: Kenner, LA

Two years ago, Jenell Godfrey was named Louisiana's police officer of the year by two statewide organizations and was praised for saving a couple from a burning house.

Friday, she was labeled a thief and a corrupt cop, accused by colleagues of stealing painkiller pills from the evidence locker and driving under the influence of drugs.

The Kenner narcotics detective was booked with malfeasance in office, tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice, theft and possession of drugs, in addition to impaired driving. Describing it as the "darkest time in the Kenner Police Department history," Chief Nick Congemi said Godfrey's arrest could taint prosecution of other suspects whose case evidence she handled in the past four years. 

Godfrey's attorney, Jay Zainey, however, said she's innocent: "She unequivocally denies these allegations against her."

Police said their suspicions were aroused Oct. 27 when Godfrey, 30, a seven-year-veteran of the department, was involved in a traffic accident at Chateau Boulevard and Vintage Drive. Thinking she might have been high at the time, they suspended her with pay and launched an investigation, Congemi said.

An inventory of narcotics evidence, over which Godfrey had control as the division's evidence custodian, showed 55 Vicodin tablets were missing, the chief said.

"She, in all probability, has been using the drugs themselves," he said.

On Tuesday, police booked Godfrey with operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, the same statute as driving while intoxicated. Thursday night, she was arrested again and booked with malfeasance in office, tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice, theft and possession of drugs.

The case represents a dramatic turn of events for Godfrey, who was the first woman detective in Kenner's seven-member narcotics and vice division and who was recognized in 1998 as the officer of the year for the state by the Louisiana Chiefs of Police Association and the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission. That same year, she won accolades from her Police Department for her off-duty rescue of an elderly Kenner couple from their burning home.

"She loved her position with the Kenner Police Department," Zainey said. "She wanted to have a career there. She's very disappointed."
Congemi acknowledged her past contributions, saying, "She was a dedicated, hardworking officer, who has received many commendations through the years.

"But all that's in the past," he added. "We are a law enforcement department. Anyone who violates the law is subject to the same treatment as every other citizen."

Congemi said Godfrey's arrest could have far-reaching effects, undermining cases in which she has participated since her assignment to the narcotics division in 1996.

"This certainly jeopardizes cases she has pending in criminal court," Congemi said. He would not say how many cases have involved her police work.

Gretna defense lawyer Bruce Netterville agreed, saying that if Godfrey is convicted of the current charges, at least the case involving the missing Vicodin tablets would be seriously weakened.

"Those are out the window. The defense attorneys have the right to force the district attorney to produce the evidence. The fact that they can't produce it would pretty much destroy the case," Netterville said.

And other cases in which Godfrey could be a principal witness also would be jeopardized, even if her arrest does not lead to a conviction.

"They're not going to want to put her out there, as a witness. Even though in court you can't bring out the fact that she's been arrested, you could bring out a reliability issue," Netterville said.

Zainey said Godfrey admitted to being on drugs at the time of the Oct. 27 accident, but he said it was medication for which she had a legitimate prescription. She was asked to submit to some lab tests and complied, but those results have not been released yet, Zainey said.

Congemi said Godfrey's pay has been suspended while the department continues its investigation. He said police have not ruled out the possibility that Godfrey stole other drugs from evidence.

"We'll know when the inventory and the internal investigation is complete," Congemi said.
Godfrey was released from the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna on a $50,000 personal surety bond Friday morning. She could not be reached for comment. 

HEADLINE: Investigation into missing drugs from sheriff's office 

DATELINE: Lander, Wyo. 

The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating missing drugs from an evidence locker at the Fremont County Sheriff's Department. 

Fremont County Attorney Norman Young has notified all local attorneys whose clients might be involved in drug cases "so that you may take appropriate action in defense of your clients." 
However, Young said the preliminary indications are the missing controlled substances were from a drug case completed in 1995 and from a supply maintained to train police dogs. 
"No currently pending cases are believed to have been involved," he said. 

Fremont County Sheriff Roger Millward said his office was cooperating with "DCI 100 percent." 

"We think this is an isolated breach of the public trust by one individual," not of the entire department, Millward said. 

Millward recently replaced Dave King, who resigned Nov. 3 as sheriff, citing health reasons. 

HEADLINE: Officials: Cash from case was 'misplaced' 

DATELINE: New Port Richey 

No disciplinary action is taken against employees at the sheriff's property evidence building after an undisclosed sum cannot be found.

Cash seized during a criminal case was "misplaced"within the Pasco County Sheriff's Office property evidence building, authorities said Wednesday. A massive audit is under way in an attempt to find it. 

The money - less than $ 10,000; officials won't say exactly how much - was discovered missing sometime at the end of January or the beginning of February.

The money is not evidence in a crime, said sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll. It should have been deposited in an interest-bearing bank account, he said.

"No cases have been impacted due to this misplaced money,"Doll said. 

The saga of the misplaced money began when employees first discovered physical evidence was missing from one case at the end of January.

That evidence was found a week later in the property evidence building, Doll said, but upon further investigation, cash linked to the case was not where it should have been, he said. Doll won't say what the case was or what property evidence was misplaced and then found.

The misplaced cash sparked a buildingwide inventory audit and sped up a previously scheduled project to place bar codes on each piece of evidence that comes into the building.

The Times asked about the missing money last week and on Wednesday, sheriff's officials said they decided to release information because of media inquiries.

The audit is a massive undertaking to catalog the hundreds and thousands of pieces of found property, lost property and items collected at crime scenes. All evidence is located in the former county jail in downtown Dade City.

There has been no disciplinary action taken against any of the employees at the property evidence building, and officials say the entire matter is part of an internal investigation.

So far, about 25 percent of the building's contents have been audited as part of the investigation, said Detective Larry Lynch, who works in the agency's staff inspections division. The inventory started in March and is overseen by Lynch.

Sgt. Kurt Gell was reassigned from road patrol to the property evidence building to help with the inventory and to oversee the project to bar-code the evidence.

Gell said Wednesday that he is proud of the work done to catalog and bar-code the property evidence room and that the building is now a "much more controlled environment." 

Currently, only Gell, Lynch and six other employees are allowed in the building. Even deputies and detectives are not allowed inside. Officials on Wednesday were unable to say who was allowed in the building prior to March.

The Sheriff's Office does not routinely catalog the entire contents of the property evidence building, Doll said. Instead, officials randomly pull specific case numbers and check evidence associated with those cases.

Now, all evidence - including cash - is placed in a brown paper bag that is tagged with a bar-code sticker. The bag is then placed in a box, which is also marked with a bar-code sticker. The box is placed in a room or on a shelf. Some evidence is eventually destroyed; other evidence such as items from a homicide case, are kept for decades.

Officials won't call the money "missing"because the bulk of the evidence hasn't been checked and double-checked in the audit.

"It's possible that it may be found,"Doll said.

HEADLINE: Money missing at sheriff's office;

DATELINE:  Dade City, Florida

An investigation into money missing from the sheriff's evidence room has raised eyebrows in the legal community. 

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office confirms it is searching for thousands of dollars that have been missing from a property evidence room for the past nine months. 

Officials gathered with local media Wednesday evening to address rumors that surfaced after Sheriff Lee Cannon lost his re-election bid to Bob White last week. When the meeting adjourned, there were still many unanswered questions. 

The missing money is evidence in an active criminal case, but sheriff's officials wouldn't specify which one. 

The cash was described as less than $ 10,000 and was "misplaced" in February, spokesman Kevin Doll said. The discovery came during an investigation into property that is part of the same case and which also came up missing. 

"The missing property was found and had been misfiled," Doll said. "Checks were made in places people thought the money might be, but it wasn't there. It still hasn't been found. 
"We are considering it misplaced. It isn't crucial to the case." 

The money should have been deposited into an interest-bearing account created by Cannon shortly after he took office in 1993, Maj. Gary Fairbanks said. The account was designed to hold all money not found to contain evidence like fingerprints or blood. 

Under the old system - scrapped in March - all evidence brought to the property room in a defunct county jail in Dade City was placed in brown paper bags with paperwork attached describing its relevance, Fairbanks said. 

Those bags are still used, but now a bar code system helps keep better track of evidence. 
"Before, someone could have picked up any one of those bags and put it in the wrong box," he said. "Now we have a much better handle on things." 

The bar code system was first purchased by the sheriff's office in 1997, Fairbanks said. A lack of high-speed telephone lines across the county prevented it from being widely used. Those lines have since been installed. 

The timing of the bar code system's use coincides with a newly created supervisory position occupied by Sgt. Kurt Gell. He was transferred in March from road patrol to the property room following the discovery of the missing money, Doll said. 

Detective Larry Lynch, who is responsible for staff inspections, has been temporarily assigned to help Gell conduct a complete inventory of the evidence room. 

That inventory is 25 percent complete, Lynch said. Annual and quarterly spot checks to match evidence with inventory numbers has been suspended until the inventory is completed, Doll said. 
"It's a tedious process," Lynch said of the inventory. "But so far, no other evidence has turned up missing. However, having items misplaced in a property room isn't all that uncommon." 

The sheriff created Gell's job in order to modernize the evidence operation, Doll said. But it also brought other changes. 

Gell now oversees Debbie Maffett and some clerical employees who work with her. Maffett, once responsible for the entire evidence operation, still holds the title of property evidence supervisor, personnel records show. But her duties have been scaled down to involve coordination of five property evidence clerks, Gell said without elaborating. 

The sheriff's office wouldn't comment on whether Maffett's job change equaled a demotion or if she was in any way responsible for the missing money.  Evidence clerks have said they were asked to take lie detector tests following discovery of the missing money. Everyone, including Mafia, is said to have passed the tests. Sheriff's officials declined to comment Wednesday and would only say no employees "have yet to be disciplined." 

"Until this investigation is completed we are not going to say anything with regard to whether or not there was substandard performance on the part of any employee," Doll said. 

So the search for the money continues. It had been kept under wraps until word leaked out after last week's election. The news caught Pasco-Pinellas State Attorney Bernie McCabe and local Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent’s off-guard.  "I have checked with my attorneys and none of our cases have been compromised," McCabe said Wednesday. "I am very surprised to hear about this." 

Local defense attorneys, meanwhile, are wondering whether more surprises are to come. The sheriff's office said that isn't likely.  However, Chief Assistant Public Defender Tom Hanlon said there could be problems in any case where evidence is lost even for a few days.  "Usually there isn't much of an argument over chain of custody," he said. "Unless you lose track of it completely." 

HEADLINE: Ex-officer sentenced for stealing evidence

DATELINE: Somerville, NJ

BYLINE: Crissa Shoemaker; Staff Writer

A former Somerville police lieutenant was sentenced yesterday to three years probation for stealing property from the police department's evidence locker. 

Vincent Metzler, 48, who was forced to resign from the police department in April after pleading guilty to tampering with police evidence logs, did not speak during sentencing. But his defense attorney called the day a sad end to his 26-year career as a police officer.  Metzler pleaded guilty in September, the same day he was charged, to third-degree theft in exchange for the probationary sentence. 

Superior Court Judge Victor Ashrafi, sitting in Somerville, also ordered that Metzler perform 75 hours of community service and pay a $ 1,000 fine, along with $ 180 in other penalties.  Metzler took $ 289 and a $ 495 watch from the evidence room, which he was in charge of for five years. 

During his plea hearing, Metzler said he was having a "difficult period in my life and thought I might need the money," but that he intended to return the property. 

He kept the property for several months before learning that an audit of the evidence room had been ordered following his admission of tampering with the logs. He then attempted to return the items through another police officer, who alerted authorities. 

Metzler, who had been terminated from the police department because of his prior illegal conduct, was aware that an audit had been ordered, said First Assistant Somerset County Prosecutor Neil Cooper. He tried to return those items without being caught. 

But defense attorney Steven Lieberman of Somerville disputed that claim, saying that Metzler knew he would be reported when he returned the property.  "While we do not deny guilt, the evidence does not support the contention that Vince was trying to sneak back the money," Lieberman said. Lieberman called the sentencing a sad day for Metzler, who was once a candidate for police chief.  "This is indeed a sad day for all concerned," he said. "It is very sad it has to end like this."  Lieberman acknowledged that legal battles are still ahead as Metzler fights to keep his police pension. 

State officials have said his pension is in jeopardy if they find that the theft occurred in the line of duty, and the state pension board is reviewing his status. Fran Rapa, a Department of Treasury spokesman, said the state Division of Pensions and Benefits has contacted the prosecutor's office and requested documents pertaining to the case but has not yet received them. 

Metzler pleaded guilty in May to a disorderly persons offense stemming from his falsification of an evidence log in March 1999 so he could make arrangements to buy a gun. He resigned and was fined $ 1,000. He was also barred from ever holding public employment again. 

HEADLINE: Police sergeant admits stealing money to pay bills 

DATELINE: Gastonia, N.C. 

A former Mount Holly police sergeant has admitted to stealing more than $4,000 from the department's evidence locker to pay his credit card debts. 

James Harmon, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of felony larceny and four counts of embezzlement by a public officer on Monday.  Gaston County Superior Court Judge Jesse Caldwell sentenced him to six years' probation and 60 days house arrest. 

As an evidence custodian for five years, Harmon had access to a room used to store weapons, drugs, money and other evidence seized in criminal cases.  On Feb. 16, 1999, another Mount Holly officer found money missing from the evidence room, according to District Attorney Mike Lands. 

The department began to investigate and officers found $1,054 missing from four envelopes. Also missing was $3,012 from the department's special fund, which financed investigations and drug busts.  Six days later, the envelopes had been filled with bills in different combinations. 

Harmon at first denied being involved, but resigned March 17 - the day he was scheduled to take a polygraph test. He later confessed.  "He felt like he was getting behind on his bills," Lands said.