SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A4

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HEADLINE:  Police stuggle to find space; New law requires stricter storage of case evidence

BYLINE: STEVE SILVERMAN

The police evidence room, located at the 135-year-old jail, is brimming with  guns, drugs, stolen property and various other items from criminal investigations. With a new law requiring evidence to be preserved for longer periods of time - sometimes permanently - Livingston County Sheriff Marvin Rutledge is concerned that space will be exhausted.

"If we don't get a new facility built in a year or two, it will cause a problem," Rutledge said, adding he has stressed the need for a larger evidence room to the county board's property committee, which has hired architects to design a new jail.

Experts say small departments with limited space and budgets stand to be most affected by the new law, which took effect Jan. 1. It requires city police and county sheriff's departments to preserve physical evidence permanently in murder and reckless homicide cases, for 25 years in rape and sexual abuse cases and for seven years in any case in which a defendant's genetic profile was introduced as evidence in court.

The law is intended to protect evidence that could provide new insights as technology advances. In signing the bill last summer, Gov. George Ryan - who imposed a moratorium on executions after several death row inmates had their convictions overturned - said it was a move partially designed to address concerns about capital punishment in Illinois.

Area police officials support the intent of the law, noting that the recent advent of DNA testing has enabled numerous cases to be solved. They expect more breakthroughs.

"Who knows what they're going to have in 20 or 40 years to prove someone guilty of something - or innocent," El Paso Police Chief Jeff Price said.

However, police say vague wording of the new law makes it unclear exactly which items must be preserved.

For example, can police document fingerprints on a door of a house or do they have to confiscate the door? If blood is found on a tree, can a sample be taken or should the tree be cut down?

"Let's say you have a murder involving a motor vehicle - does that mean the whole vehicle is held?" Rutledge asked.

The law doesn't answer this question, though any official who intentionally violates it could be prosecuted for a Class 4 felony punishable by up to three years in prison.

Until the law is clarified, Ford County Sheriff William Kean said his office will keep all evidence.

"We're holding onto everything we got," Kean said.

Kean said the evidence room in the spacious basement of the Ford County Sheriff's Department is adequate for the foreseeable future. McLean County Sheriff Dave Owens said the law will require his office to buy a second refrigerator to preserve DNA evidence, but space isn't a problem.

But space is tight at the evidence room of the Illinois State University Police Department in Normal.

Shelves are crammed with sealed paper bags and cardboard boxes, many stuffed with clothing and sheets from rape cases. Sexual assault investigations take up the most room per case, ISU Det. Julie Sheppelman said.

The law could aggravate the space shortage, ISU Police Chief Ronald Swan said.

"It's already a problem for us in being able to find room to store our materials," he said.

Swan said existing office space will be converted to a second evidence room  if necessary. He's not willing to rent storage space because of security concerns.

"You obviously need it in close proximity ... and I wouldn't want it to be out of police headquarters," he said.

Proposed legislation would allow police to ask a judge to order the circuit clerk's office to impound evidence from cleared cases if the evidence wasn't introduced in court. Such a law could clog the court system with requests for impoundment hearings, and lead to space shortages and inventory problems for circuit clerks, McLean County Circuit Clerk Sandra Parker said.

She noted that circuit clerk's offices already are responsible for all evidence admitted at trials.

In the David Hendricks murder re-trial, for instance, that meant taking custody of more than 300 documents and exhibits.

Hendricks was convicted of the 1983 killings of his wife and three children. He was later acquitted in a 1991 retrial.

A judge may order evidence returned to each side in trials that result in an acquittal. Hendricks didn't want his property returned so it was destroyed.  State exhibits were turned over to police.

Other defendants are more possessive. Dale Fosdick, who was convicted of murder and aggravated arson for the 1993 pipe-bombing death of his former girlfriend, successfully petitioned the court last year to turn over his remote-controlled airplane to his father. It was one of the bulkiest items ever housed in the vault at the Law and Justice Center in Bloomington.

"It had a nine-foot wing-span, but fortunately the wings came up so we could stand it in a corner," Parker said.

Parker said the new law hasn't caused storage problems, but it could in the future. If that happens, Parker said judges probably would set aside court time to determine what evidence legally could be disposed.

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GRAPHIC: Illinois State University Police Department Detective Julie Sheppelman attempted to find space in the department's evidence locker.  Many Illinois police agencies are facing more space limitations following a new law mandating that evidence be kept for longer periods of time, sometimes permanently.

HEADLINE: Chief fired, investigation sought over report of missing guns 

DATELINE: Pottsville, Ark

Mayor Jerry Duvall says he's fired Police Chief Rick Martin and asked for a state police investigation after hearing reports that guns were missing from the city's evidence room. 

Martin was fired Tuesday evening after a closed session of the City Council.  Last week, his second-in-command resigned. Duvall said he no longer had confidence in Martin's work. 

"We have four missing guns from the evidence room," the mayor said. He said he was told about the matter last week by a private citizen. 

Prosecutor David Gibbons of Clarksville said he had been notified that state police were preparing to investigate the department. On Friday, Sgt. Jonathan Freeman resigned, citing diminishing support from city government in the town about five miles east of Russellville. 

Officer Danny Winters was named acting chief on Friday, when the chief was put on paid administrative leave. In addition to Winters, the town has another full-time officer and one part-time officer. 

Duvall promised to bring the department back up to full force as quickly as possible. He declined further comment. "As long as there is an ongoing investigation there isn't a whole lot I can say," Duvall said. 

Duvall said he had the authority to fire Martin on his own, but called Tuesday's special council meeting to share his concerns and knowledge with aldermen. 

In his letter of resignation, Freeman said he and Martin had worked together to make a transition from town-marshal law enforcement to a municipal police department. He said they succeeded in reducing crime. 

"However, without the support of the city I cannot do my job," the letter said. 

HEADLINE: KRAUT SOUR ON D.A.;PROSECUTOR'S WARNING IGNORED: "IT WAS THE OFFICE JOKE" 

DATELINE: Los Angeles

A "joke" - that's how county prosecutor Michael Kraut described the way the District Attorney's Office handled his early warnings about dirty cop Rafael Perez, the central figure in the worst police corruption scandal in city history.

During an interview in August with an LAPD detective, a well-informed source said Kraut expressed frustration about his inability to get senior prosecutors to act on his suspicions about Perez."It was the office joke," Kraut told investigators, alluding to his written warnings about the dirty cop in the summer of 1997.

The source said Kraut told the investigator he was particularly upset when his boss, Head Deputy District Attorney Richard Sullivan, failed to follow up on his note questioning Perez's honesty in the second of two cases.  "It (the note) sat on his desk for a year," Kraut told a Los Angeles Police Department detective, the source said.

Kraut's words give the clearest picture yet of his view about the importance of his warnings, how they were ignored and how he was rebuked by his supervisors. 

On Wednesday, District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons dismissed applying any significance to Kraut's statements. She pointedly noted that the second case Kraut spotted was handled by another prosecutor and was not his responsibility.

"Mr. Kraut chose to involve himself in a case that wasn't his," Gibbons said. "The facts did not bear out his feelings . . . It wasn't his case."

Police Chief Bernard C. Parks has a very different view of Kraut's warnings, insisting that if LAPD officials had been notified immediately, rather than in 1998, Perez would have been taken off the streets and many of the crimes alleged against Rampart Division anti-gang officers might not have occurred.

Despite the repeated warnings, the District Attorney's Office failed to officially notify the LAPD about the prosecutor's concerns in 1997 or even to warn other prosecutors that Perez was suspected of being dishonest.

During the year prosecutors held onto the information, Perez framed at least 17 people and stole nearly $1 million in cocaine from an LAPD evidence room. He has told investigators he and other cops shot at least one unarmed man, beat other suspects, and routinely committed perjury to send innocent people to prison between 1995 and 1998.

Sources in the District Attorney's Office and LAPD agree that Kraut's first warning about Perez was not conclusive enough to have fingered the dirty cop.

But LAPD sources argue that when that warning is combined with another botched case that includes concerns about the same cop from the same prosecutor, the warnings become more of a smoking gun than a red herring.

Kraut, who could not be reached for comment, has consistently declined requests for interviews, citing the corruption task force's ongoing probe and a concurrent internal investigation by the District Attorney's Office into his attempts to notify senior prosecutors about Perez.

Kraut's first attempt to sound the alarm, widely referred to as the Kraut memo, came in June 1997 after he was forced to ask a judge to dismiss drug charges against a defendant.

During an Aug. 12, 1999, interview with an LAPD detective, sources said, Kraut explained that he asked for the case to be kicked out because he had serious questions about Perez's testimony during the trial.

In sworn statements to LAPD investigators in September, Perez confirmed Kraut was right, but for the wrong reasons. According to Perez, Kraut believed he was lying about who his partner was on the day he arrested Ubaldo Gutierrez. That wasn't the case, Perez said. He was lying about so much more.

All of the charges against Gutierrez were bogus. Perez, who agreed to become an informant after hashing out a plea bargain, told investigators he planted the drugs on Gutierrez. The dirty cop added that his relationship with prosecutors resembled a "pissing match."

Second attempt made

The existence of the Kraut memo has been widely reported for months. What wasn't known, until the Daily News article Sunday, was that Kraut made a second attempt to draw his boss's attention to Perez only weeks later. In his talk with the detective, sources said, Kraut detailed that second attempt.

The case that grabbed Kraut's attention this time had been handled by another prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Janis Johnson.

Just as with Gutierrez, drug charges against a defendant, Victor Perez, had to be dropped because of a police foul-up. Officer Perez, no relation to the defendant, and his partner, Nino Durden, told the prosecutor they could not find the drugs confiscated during the arrest.The failed prosecution took place less than two weeks after which Gutierrez was allowed to walk.

A short time later, Kraut said he reviewed the Victor Perez case and noticed Officer Perez was involved. To check up on the cop, Kraut called over to the police evidence room to see whether the drugs seized during the arrest were on hand. He was told the narcotics were never missing, a source said.

Unlike the Gutierrez case, Kraut did not write an official memo or disposition report detailing his concerns. But, he told the detective, he placed a note on the Victor Perez file and gave it to his supervisor, Sullivan. Sullivan could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

Sally Thomas, director of central operations, is expected to complete the prosecutorial office's internal review of Kraut's warnings by early next week.

Following the Daily News' Sunday article on Kraut's warnings, the District Attorney's Office agreed to give the LAPD a copy of the Kraut memo, but insisted that no other memo or note related to the Victor Perez case could be found or existed to its knowledge. Conclusions lack support

An official statement released by the District Attorney's Office earlier this week concluded that the internal review of the Gutierrez file and the court transcript "does not support Mr. Kraut's conclusions, and does not support the contention that this case would have led to an earlier prosecution of Officer Perez."

The statement also noted that Kraut "personally informed" Officer Perez's supervisor about his concerns about the Gutierrez case and that the supervisor, a detective at the Rampart station, said he agreed with the decision to dismiss the charges.

The statement did not address why the District Attorney's Office failed to immediately tell LAPD brass, the Internal Affairs unit, or even its own prosecutors about Kraut's concerns in case Perez was a key witness in the future, which he would be.

The statement also ignored the Victor Perez case, which remains under investigation.

There are no audiotapes of Kraut's interview with Castillo. Sources said Kraut declined to be tape-recorded and police were not permitted to conduct formal interviews with the prosecutor or his supervisors. But the District Attorney's Office has promised to make Kraut available to police for further interviews.

To date, no one has issued a subpoena to Kraut, which would compel him to tell his story under oath. 

Two north Florida police chiefs were charged with stealing guns from a department evidence room and selling them, authorities said.

A nine-count federal indictment named Midway Police Chief Gene Gardner, 39, and Gretna Police Chief Antonio Jefferson, 35, accusing them of conspiracy and weapons violations.  Investigators said Jefferson stole guns while he was in charge of the Midway Police Department in 1998 and Gardner carried on the scheme as Midway's police chief when he took over after Jefferson that year.

The indictment accused the men of selling stolen guns that were being stored at the Midway department. Federal agents said weapons included .30-caliber hunting rifles, 12-gauge shotguns, 9 mm automatic pistols and a Chinese assault rifle.

Agents said they conducted an inventory of Midway's evidence room after raiding the department in August and seizing police records of guns officers had turned in as evidence. 
Police are allowed to sell seized guns as long as the weapons are not stolen.

Both men, who are former Leon County Sheriff's deputies, were arrested Tuesday.  They were released from federal custody after pleading not guilty and posting signature bonds.  Robert Harper, Gardner's attorney, said his client denied any wrongdoing. Jefferson was not available for comment.

"I feel pretty confident under the circumstances that we will have no other alternative than to dismiss him (Jefferson)," Gretna Mayor Evelyn Rollins said. It was not clear whether Gardner would remain as Midway's police chief. Gretna  and Midway are northwest of Tallahassee. 

Jefferson left the Leon County Sheriff's Office in 1996 to become Midway's police chief.  Gardner, who left the sheriff's office to briefly work in another police department, took over for Jefferson when he resigned.  He later left Midway to become Gretna's police chief.

HEADLINE: DECORATED COUNTY OFFICER IS CHARGED WITH STEALING CASH FROM EVIDENCE FILE; HIGH RIDGE RESIDENT IS FREE ON BOND 

DATELINE: Jefferson  County  Missouri

A Medal of Valor-winning Jefferson County Sheriff's officer who twice has been shot in the line of duty is facing charges that he stole $ 2,000 from an evidence file while investigating a narcotics case. 

Raymond Edler, 35, of High Ridge, has been suspended with pay from the department and is charged with felony stealing and tampering with evidence. Edler is free after posting bond. He could not be reached for comment. 

Edler won the Medal of Valor, his department's highest award, in 1998 for pulling another officer, Cpl. Donald Cummines, to safety after both men had been shot by a man with a shotgun. Edler suffered minor shotgun wounds to his face and hands. Cummines said after the incident that he owed Edler his life. 

"I don't feel like a hero at all," said Edler in February 1998. "It's what I had to do, and it's part of my job. And police work is what I always wanted to do." "As his record proves, he's been a good officer," said Sheriff Oliver "Glenn" Boyer. "Unfortunately, he made a terrible mistake." 

Edler also was shot in the leg in February 1997 after responding to a domestic disturbance in the House Springs area. Colleagues found the evidence file between file cabinets while moving furniture in the sheriff's department, says Marc Fried, the county's first assistant prosecutor.  Among other information on the file, Edler's name and an amount of money were written, Fried says. 

But the money in the envelope did not match the amount written on the front, Fried says. Boyer said that $ 2,000 was missing. 

Edler, who was then on the department's narcotics task force, and other officers had confiscated the money from a Jefferson County home on Dec. 15. Authorities declined to provide details of the case that Edler was investigating. 

Boyer said Edler had improperly documented the evidence. Officers are supposed to photograph the evidence and log the information but this had not been done, Boyer said. 

Because of the allegations, Boyer said the department would be looking into other cases investigated by Edler. 

HEADLINE: Hillard orders overhaul of evidence division 

DATELINE: Chicago

Stung by a recent string of embarrassments at the unit that warehouses criminal evidence, Chicago Police Supt. Terry Hillard on Wednesday replaced the unit's commander and ordered a "top-to-bottom" audit of all evidence kept in department vaults.

The changes come six days after police and prosecutors discovered 20 kilograms of cocaine had been stolen from the Evidence and Recovered Property Section, which over the years has been blamed for millions of dollars in missing narcotics evidence, rape kits and weapons. 

"Just one unfortunate incident calls into question the entire operation of that unit," Hillard said.
In February, a Rogers Park woman's $16,000 in jewelry turned up missing or stolen. And last year the unit inadvertently destroyed evidence in the trial of the man accused in the savage beating of Girl X.

In 1996, an audit showed the operation was rife with problems, noting at one point nearly $7 million in narcotics evidence was missing.

Hillard on Wednesday named 32-year department veteran Toby Burton to a newly created commander's position. Burton most recently served as lieutenant in the Auditing and Internal Control Division and worked in the Internal Affairs Division.

In recent months, the department has been moving its collection of evidence from the Criminal Courts Building at 26th Street and California Avenue to the department's Homan Square facility on the West Side. Burton will oversee the last stage of that move.

Hillard said the current head of the unit, Lt. William Sutherland, was "burned out" and will be moving to another job in the auditing division. Officials said Hillard maintains confidence in Sutherland, whom he installed to clean up the unit in 1998 and that he was not being pushed out.

Hillard, who made a surprise inspection of the unit this week, said the department will begin an immediate inventory of all drug evidence and will soon hire a consultant to do a more comprehensive audit.

The department is also speeding up efforts to update its bar-coding system to track evidence and consulting with other large police departments about how their evidence systems work.

"When you have a few individuals who are hired to safeguard the facility engaging in criminal acts, there is clearly a need to make some changes, and some drastic changes," Hillard said.

The missing cocaine, which was first inventoried after a 1997 drug bust, remains under investigation. "We know that was an inside job, and that was a crime," Hillard said.

Department sources said Wednesday the investigation has narrowed in terms of when the cocaine was stolen and who may have taken it, but they refused to provide specifics. The unit has more than 100 employees.

One source, however, said the investigation so far indicates the cocaine was stolen before Sutherland took over the unit in 1998.

As that investigation moves along, a defense attorney this week charged the unit has lost or stolen a large number of videocassette recorders that were supposed to be returned to his client in February.

A judge had signed a court order for 175 VCRs to be turned over to a man who had been accused of pirating movies, according to attorney Daniel Radakovich.

He said his client was cleared of the charges but found the VCRs were gone when he went to pick them up.

Police spokesman Pat Camden said Wednesday the items were not missing. 

HEADLINE: Former Shawnee County Sheriff Dave Meneley enters plea 

DATELINE: Topeka, Kansas

Former Shawnee County Sheriff Dave Meneley entered a guilty plea Monday as jury selection neared in the case accusing him of stealing money from a sheriff's drug-buy fund. 

Meneley faces 12 months supervised probation after pleading guilty to one count of criminal deprivation of property and two counts of personal use of campaign funds. 

A judge suspended a six month county jail sentence for the former sheriff. Besides probation, Meneley must pay court costs, fees and restitution to be determined later. His probation may be transferred to unsupervised, a representative of the Miami County District Court said. 

Meneley faced 16 counts of felony theft, or alternatively, one count of felony theft encompassing all the thefts, two counts of felony misuse of public funds and one misdemeanor count of personal use of campaign funds. 

Linn County District Judge Richard Smith, of Mound City, was due to hear the trial, after it was moved to Miami County at the request of Meneley, who said he couldn't get a fair trial in Shawnee County. 

The theft case was the second criminal case against Meneley to go to trial. 

In August 2000, Meneley was tried on two counts of perjury linked to testimony he made in 1999 that he didn't know former sheriff's narcotics officer Timothy P. Oblander had stolen cocaine evidence to feed his drug addiction. A Shawnee County District Court jury deadlocked when it was unable to reach a verdict. The case then ended Jan. 30 when District Attorney Robert Hecht dismissed it, saying the combination of ethical, financial and potential penalty considerations outweighed whatever would be gained by retrying the ousted sheriff.