HEADLINE: Evidence Wanted for DNA testing in Death Case Can’t be Found

LOUISVILLE, KY.  -- Evidence sought by a Kentucky death row inmate for DNA testing can't be found.  Prosecutors say officers searched the evidence room, but couldn't find the pants and shoes sought by attorneys for 49-year-old Brian Keith Moore.  Moore is awaiting execution for the 1979 slaying of Virgil Harris in Louisville. He is the first Kentucky inmate to win DNA testing. 

HEADLINE: Ex-Cop Stole, Then Sold Firearms

New York, NY.  -- AN EX-QUEENS COP has been busted for selling guns he stole from his own stationhouse and dealing drugs, officials said yesterday. Undercover officers purchased two guns from Vitta that had been filched from the evidence room at the 110th Precinct stationhouse, she said. When cops raided Vitta's home Nov. 14, they found a third gun from the precinct, 11 loaded guns, $37,275 in cash and 1,850 pain pills, officials said.

HEADLINE: Police Retiree Tied to Missing Funds

MANCHESTER, CT- A police internal affairs investigation completed this week concludes that a retired officer who recently worked in the evidence room is directly tied to at least six cases of missing money.

The police department launched the internal affairs investigation, headed by Lt. Jim Neiswanger, in February after a couple of audits of the evidence room turned up discrepancies in accounting. The investigation was completed Tuesday, and the results were released Wednesday.
During the investigation, police found 27 cases dating from 1989 in which more than $11,900 in evidence could not be accounted for. Police said the evidence room is an example of a "systematic failure" and partly blamed human and technical errors for the problem.

HEADLINE: Lynwood, WA, Deputy Police Chief Fired for Stealing

LYNWOOD, WA- Lynnwood Police Chief Steven Jensen says he has fired Deputy Chief Paul C. Watkins, who recently pleaded guilty to stealing money from the department's evidence room. 

In a statement, Jensen says the 50-year-old Watkins' termination stemmed from the theft of money seized by Lynnwood police officers from 2001 through 2005. Federal prosecutors say Watkins stole between $70,000 and $120,000.  Jensen says Watkins acted alone and the city of Lynnwood will seek to recover the stolen money.  The Everett man faces a maximum 10 years in prison when he's sentenced Feb. 22 in federal court.  Watkins had been with the department for more than 20 years and was the commander of its criminal investigative division.