HEADLINE: Cop who ran evidence room fights penalty

A Denver police captain with a nearly flawless 30-year record has joined a sergeant in challenging suspensions they received for ineptly running the department's property room. 

About $100,000 and several guns came up missing from the property room in 2000, as well as 16 stashes of confiscated drugs. Early last year - months after an investigation was launched to find the missing money - $5,000 from an FBI case also disappeared. 

Even though the money, guns and drugs were never found - and no one was charged in connection with their disappearance - Capt Miriam Reed and Sgt. Ronald Hanna were slapped with suspensions in 2001 for running the room poorly, according to Civil Service Commission records. 

Reed, who was suspended for 10 days without pay, filed an appeal Dec. 19, and Hanna appealed his six-day suspension in June. Both cases are to be presented to a hearing officer by March. 

A third property room officer was suspended four days, but that penalty has not been challenged. 

Despite problems brought to them by subordinates, Reed and Hanna 'failed to address the problems or even document them,' according to a department discipline letter. 

'Employees received no direction, consistent policies or training, and as a result, many employees did not feel compelled to do their jobs,' the letter says. The department also accused Hanna of not knowing proper procedures for handling evidence and eliminating 'important procedures because he believed them to be redundant.' 

In documents filed with the commission, Reed called the discipline - the first of a department captain in several years - an 'abuse of discretion.' Hanna said his suspension was retribution because he supported Reed during the investigation, according to the documents. 

The two were transferred to other jobs when the investigation began, but several former subordinates are still in the property room. 

The property room has 'lost more money since we left,' Reed told The Post. 'This is strictly retaliation against me.' Hanna could not be reached. 

The missing property was discovered days after Gerry Whitman's appointment as interim chief in February 2000 following the forced resignation of Chief Tom Sanchez. 

The disappearance prompted an internal investigation that took months to complete - but only uncovered problems with management of the property section, not what happened to the money and drugs. The scandal surfaced after two envelopes containing about $30,000 - related to a pair of drug prosecutions - came up missing. 

Weeks later, Whitman upped the amount missing to $100,000, added a half-dozen missing guns and drugs to the list, and said they all came from about 11 pending criminal cases. 
'We've searched and didn't find any of it. I was hoping we'd find it or find someone to prosecute,' Whitman told The Post recently. 

Whitman refused to comment on the appeals, but said no evidence ever was given to prosecutors for consideration. After its own investigation, the district attorney's office said no one could be charged. 

Whitman blames the ordeal on 'a records management problem,' noting that some of the money likely has been missing since 1992. He predicted problems will be avoided now because of a new computer system and other safeguards. 

Reed claims the record-keeping problems preceded her. 'Nevertheless,' she said, 'I'm the one getting disciplined. What about all the other supervisors under whose command money had been missing before me?' 

Reed had been in charge of the evidence room before. In 1995, she was sent there by Chief David Michaud after he demoted her from division chief following Reed's public criticism of the department's domestic violence training. Reed also was a vocal backer of Mary DeGroot for mayor instead of Wellington Webb. 

The demotion prompted Reed to sue Michaud and others for allegedly violating her First Amendment rights to free speech. A jury decided in May 1999 that Reed's rights were violated, but that her demotion wasn't retaliatory. 

Civil Service Commission records show Reed was disciplined just three previous times in her career - all for minor offenses. The last occurred in 1976. Hanna's last discipline was in 1991 for not qualifying on his firearm, only the fourth discipline in his 27-year police career. 

HEADLINE: Four of six former Prichard officers plead guilty 

DATELINE: MOBILE, Ala. 

Three former Prichard police officers pleaded guilty Friday to felony charges and a fourth pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, leaving two other ex-officers to face retrial on racketeering and corruption charges. 

U.S. District Judge Charles R. Butler set sentencing April 30 for the four men who entered pleas. Butler reminded the four that he doesn't have to accept any sentencing recommendations in the plea agreements. The recommended sentences were not immediately available. 

On the most serious count, former Lt. James Stallworth, who had supervised the vice and narcotics squad, admitted that in 1999 he took $10,000 from a Prichard man in exchange for not pursuing criminal charges against him. He could get 20 years and a $1 million fine. 

Co-defendant Nathan McDuffie admitted sharing in that $10,000 and could get 10 years and a $250,000 fine. 

Among those initially accused of intimidating and threatening people to find guns, drugs and cash, former Sgt. John "Big John" Stuckey pleaded guilty to possessing one gram of crack cocaine with intent to distribute it. 
Ex-detective Derek Gillis pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor involving filing police paperwork. 
"We feel fantastic," Gillis attorney Dennis Knizley said, leaving the courthouse. 

Robert Clark, Stuckey's lawyer, said his client pleaded to "giving away a gram of crack. Mistakes were made. We're suffering the consequences." 

Justice Department attorneys from Washington, D.C., who conducted the prosecution, declined to comment on Friday's pleas. 

Awaiting retrial are former detective Frederick Pippins and Anthony Diaz who turned down plea bargains, attorneys said. 

A jury in November deadlocked 10-2 in favor of convictions for all six, setting the stage for a retrial Thursday. Faced with the introduction of new prosecution evidence, defense attorney Al Pennington said he accepted the plea bargain on behalf of his client, McDuffie. 

In an indictment alleging racketeering, extortion, drug violations, deprivation of civil rights, the government had accused the former officers of letting known drug offenders and prostitutes go free without pressing charges. The officers were accused of placing false information in police reports and other police paperwork to conceal their illegal activities. 

Some witnesses testified about officers smoking crack cocaine and stealing confiscated drugs and money. 

Defense attorneys contend the officers often didn't press charges on certain people they detained as a way to get information about more serious criminals in one of Alabama's poorest cities. 

In the first trial, prosecutors also argued that Stallworth took at least $60,000 from the department's evidence vault. 

If convicted on all counts, the officers would have faced varying prison terms ranging from about five to 20 years. 

HEADLINE: Sheriff’s Office Loses Tools

JAY -- A Delaware County man filed a tort claim against the county and the Sheriff's Office for more than $30,000, citing negligence because officials allegedly lost his tools that were taken into evidence.

Mike Walker, through his attorney, gave notice to the Delaware County commissioner Monday that he had filed a tort claim against the Sheriff's Office for the loss of $6,136 worth of tools. 

In the claim, Walker alleges that officials with the Sheriff's Office refused to return his property in October, saying that the property had been lost. Walker, a handyman, claims that he has lost $25,000 in wages because he didn't have his tools for work.

Walker's tools were taken into evidence Jan. 5, 1999, after a dispute arose over money Walker allegedly owed the manager of a convenience store operator on Monkey Island.

Sheriff Lenden Woodruff said he can't understand why Walker, after three years, is just now asking for his tools when prosecutors didn't pursue the case in 1999. Woodruff said when he took office last year the evidence log was missing, and that undersheriff Rick White has searched the evidence room and can't find Walker's tools. Adair County awaits Keating's decision on new judge

STILWELL -- Adair County will have a new judge sitting on the bench this month when Gov. Frank Keating makes a final decision on who will replace longtime Associate District Judge David Harris.

 Harris, a 19-year veteran of the bench, retired last week, leaving office with one year left on his four-year term.

John Cox, a spokesman for the governor's office, said Monday that officials with the judicial nominating committee submitted the name of three candidates to the governor for review. Cox said the governor's appointment is forthcoming.

Harris, 65, who handled most of the arraignments for the county, came under fire last year when several offenders, two charged with first-degree murder, were released on bail for a second time and then went on to commit violent crimes against residents in Adair County.

One alleged murderer, who Harris released on $100,000 bail, went on to shoot up an apartment complex in Westville and then shot a woman more than 17 times, leaving her to die in a dump, according to authorities. 

HEADLINE: WORKER IS CHARGED WITH HAVING GUNS FROM EVIDENCE ROOM 

A night custodian at the St. Clair County Building was charged Friday with possession of guns taken from a locked evidence room in the circuit clerk's office.

The custodian, Joseph Williams, 33, of East St. Louis, was charged with possession of three pistols stolen from a room that the clerk's office uses to store confiscated firearms that may be needed in forthcoming trials. 

He was also charged with three counts of burglary. And he was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon, based on having been convicted of aggravated battery in March 1995.

All the charges are felonies. If convicted, Williams could face up to 15 years in prison. He was taken before a judge in circuit court in Belleville on Friday. Bail was set at $100,000.
Sgt. Dave Thornton of the Sheriff's Department said Williams was arrested in a sting operation Wednesday night.

"We did some surveillance on the evidence room and caught the guy coming out with the guns," Thornton said.

Circuit Clerk C. Barney Metz said an inventory was still under way to determine exactly how many guns had been taken and whether all had been recovered.

Thornton said five had been recovered and the investigation was continuing.

The evidence room where the guns were stored is kept locked, but authorities said Williams somehow got a key from a deputy clerk's desk, although the desk also had been locked.
Metz said his employees found out last week that guns were missing because a police department asked for the return of some that were no longer needed as evidence. Metz asked the Sheriff's Department to investigate. 

HEADLINE: WORKER CHARGED IN THEFTS; FIVE GUNS STOLEN IN COURTHOUSE 

A custodian was charged Friday with breaking into an evidence room at the St. Clair County Building and stealing five guns. 

Police had known since December that someone had been stealing from the courthouse, had set up surveillance and caught a suspect last week. 

On Friday, Joseph Williams, 34, of 8408 State St. in East St. Louis, was charged with burglary and the theft of five guns from the gun room in the St. Clair County Circuit Clerk's office. The six-count charge includes three counts of burglary, two counts of aggravated possession of two to five stolen firearms and the unlawful use of firearms by a felon. 

St. Clair County State's Attorney Robert Haida did not return calls regarding the effect the thefts might have on any pending felony cases. 

Court documents indicate Williams, who worked as a custodian at the St. Clair County Building, broke into the gun room at least three times last week. The gun room is used to store a variety of weapons used as evidence in trials. 

The charges accuse Williams of stealing a .32-caliber revolver, a .38-caliber handgun, a Davis .38-caliber handgun, a Cody pistol and a vest pocket handgun. 

Circuit Clerk Barney Metz could not comment about the burglary, citing the continuing police investigation, but said additional security has been added to the gun room. The room is a long closet with racks of guns and previously was protected by a locked wooden door. 

Williams has a three-page criminal history, including a 1995 conviction for aggravated battery, several traffic violation convictions, retail theft and disturbing the peace. 

St. Clair County Associate Judge Walter C. Brandon Jr. arraigned Williams and set his bail at $100,000. 

St. Clair County Sheriff Sgt. Dave Thornton said police have been investigating Williams since December because he was suspected of stealing other items from the courthouse while performing his duties as custodian. Thornton said police set up surveillance to catch him. 

Williams could face up to 15 years in prison if he is convicted of the charges. 

POLICE TESTIFY AGAINST EX-CHIEF; WITNESSES SAY MARKED MONEY IN BREWER'S SAFE LATER FOUND IN DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS 

A retired Wilkinsburg police officer said it took him about a month to notify outside investigators regarding his suspicions about cash being stolen from the department's evidence safe.

"I was in shock. I was in state of denial. Was it an honest mistake or was the system being violated?" retired Lt. Thomas C. Kocon told District Justice Nathan Firestone of Squirrel Hill on Friday. 

Kocon was testifying against retired Wilkinsburg police Chief Gerald Brewer and his girlfriend, former Detective Diana Maddox, who are accused of stealing more than $20,000 from the borough. Testimony in the preliminary hearing on theft and conspiracy charges against the pair is scheduled to resume at 9:15 a.m. Friday.

Wilkinsburg council in December 2000 suspended Brewer, but Mayor Wilbert Young refused to implement the suspension and instead brokered an estimated $20,000 buyout that allowed Brewer to retire.

Three witnesses testified last week about how money was handled in the police department. They told of incidents where confiscated money was marked when it was put into the chief's safe and later was found in different denominations. As many as five more witnesses could be called.

Wilkinsburg police Sgt. Robert Tuite testified that in May 2000, when he was in charge of the borough's detectives, he was given court orders to turn over a number of evidence envelopes containing cash to the office of Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. Tuite submitted the documents to Brewer, whose office had the safe in which cash seized from suspects was kept.

Tuite took a folder containing the envelopes, but when he turned them in, there was an extra envelope.

He testified there were two envelopes with the same case name and number, but one had $791 in it and the second had $797.

Tuite went to Kocon, who was in charge of internal affairs, with the envelope containing $797. The court order specified $791.

"This envelope [with $797] should not exist," Tuite said.

Kocon ordered Tuite not to repeat the story. Kocon testified he was not certain what outside agency to go to for assistance. In the end, he decided to move on his own.

Telling Brewer that a suspect's attorney had a court order for the return of cash, Kocon asked for another evidence envelope. Kocon added he knew the envelope was marked with the exact denominations of the currency and where it was seized: $2,160 from a vehicle, $312 from the defendant's pockets and $770 from his wallet.

Kocon testified Brewer said he didn't have the paperwork and asked Kocon to return in 10 minutes. Kocon said he sat in an outer office and after about five minutes, Maddox entered the chief's office.

After another five minutes, Kocon testified, he knocked at the door and then entered the chief's office, where he found Maddox and Brewer seated across from each other with "hundreds of dollars" strewn about the desk.

Kocon was given an envelope and when he returned to his office, he noted the denominations were different, indicating the original amount of money had been removed and replaced.

Kocon testified he contacted investigators from the district attorney's office because he had worked with one on a task force, Detective Rick Ealing.

While the DA's probe was on, borough police confiscated two large amounts of cash totaling $17,000 that Ealing advised Kocon not to put into the safe in the chief's office. Kocon complied and the cash was kept in a safe in criminal investigations.

This led Brewer's attorney, Stanley Greenfield, to question Kocon if he stole or took, and then replaced, any of this cash -- a charge that Brewer made before a county grand jury returned a presentment against him and Maddox.

Kocon denied using the money. He also said he didn't have a vendetta against Brewer, but he conceded he had differences of opinion with the former chief, including over what he considered preferential treatment for Maddox.

Both Kocon and Tuite said they were demoted by Brewer's successor, acting Chief Harvey Adams, a retired Pittsburgh police sergeant and former NAACP activist.

Tuite was removed from an acting lieutenant's slot in investigations and returned to patrol duty. Kocon was placed in charge of meter maids until he retired in August.

Brewer and Maddox were arrested Nov. 7 in Florida and extradited here the following day. Each is free on bond.

LAKE CHARLES - A police officer has been arrested on allegations of stealing evidence confiscated from a narcotics investigation by the Lake Charles Police Department. 

Sgt. Danny Williamson, 43, was booked Monday with malfeasance, felony theft and obstruction of justice. Bond was set at $5,000. 

Authorities said the investigation started in November when evidence from a narcotics investigation was not submitted to the department evidence custodian. Williamson allegedly took about $5,000 and a large amount of drugs, investigators charged. 

Williamson resigned before his arrest. He was one of five crime-scene technicians in the Police Department's identification division, which collects evidence that is stored with the department. 
Attorney Clifford Newman, who is representing Williamson, said his client denies wrongdoing. 
Police Chief Don Dixon said an investigation is continuing. Dixon said he has ordered a new system of accounting for evidence. Newman said several people had potentially improper access to evidence. 

"The public will learn that the location where the evidence had been secured was accessible by a number of people, not just my client," Newman said. 

Newman said he told Williamson not to resign. 

HEADLINE: Seizing illegal drugs is one thing, disposing of them quite another 

Seizing controlled substances such as methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin is one thing. 
Getting rid of such materials is quite another, especially lately. 

For nine years, drugs seized by authorities all over the state were destroyed at the Spokane Regional Waste Energy Incinerator. 

"We were getting drugs (to burn) from all over, Seattle and the Tri-Cities," said Damon Taam, contractor for the Spokane incinerator. The quantities weren't huge, amounting to about a mini-van load every month. 

But since June, the incinerator's been off limits under state Department of Ecology guidelines for destruction of dangerous substances. 

The incinerator had been the only facility in Washington that burned up illegal drugs, so the decision to stop reduced the options to none. 

No one questioned the practice for nine years, Taam said. 

Then last spring, someone at Washington State University's medical program had second thoughts about tossing medical wastes into an incinerator. The wastes at issue were regulated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, and school officials were worried about liability, said Ecology spokeswoman Caitlin Cormier. 

"They said, 'Hey, this might be hazardous waste,"' she said. 

Those second thoughts evolved into an official designation of nonbiological medical wastes as hazardous - a designation that triggered the Ecology rules. 

Ecology requires permits for incinerators that handle dangerous waste, said Cormier. "We have to look at what happens when you burn this stuff, and what goes into the air," she said. 

For Benton County Sheriff Larry Taylor, the change means storing bricks of cocaine, bundles of marijuana and baggies of heroin and methamphetamine in the evidence locker until further notice. 

"We have a problem, so it just builds up," he said. 

Kennewick Police Chief Marc Harden said, "We'd love to be able to get rid of the stuff. The more you have, the more the security risk, too." 

Cormier said the solution may involve a change in agency rules. A Dec. 31 memorandum suggested an amendment to exempt street drugs as a dangerous waste and allow them to be burned. 

Another possibility is use of the Covanta Corp. waste-energy plant near Salem, Ore. Negotiations there are underway. 

Taam said the incinerator can consume more than 800 tons of material a day, with temperatures reaching 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. The charge was $132.75 a ton, with a 140-pound minimum. 

HEADLINE: ST. CLAIR COUNTY DISCOVERS THEFT OF 151 GUNS; ONE LATER WAS USED IN SHOOTING, POLICE BELIEVE; JANITOR IS HELD 

St. Clair County authorities knew confiscated guns were missing from a storage room; they just didn't know how many.

But after a sting that netted one arrest and five pistols, investigators now say 151 weapons were taken from a storage room in the St. Clair County building in a series of thefts discovered two weeks ago.

Seven pistols have been recovered. The rest are unaccounted for, said Sgt. Dave Thornton. 
One of the recovered weapons, a semiautomatic pistol, was found last month near the scene of a shooting in Bridgeton. Police have made no arrests in the case and say the victim has given different accounts of what happened.

Illinois State Police confiscated and returned another pistol, but Thornton said he had no details on how it was recovered.

Thornton said five guns were confiscated from the man police believe took the pistols. He was arrested the night of Jan. 9 in a sting operation as he emerged from the storage room at the county building.

Night custodian Joseph Williams, 33, of East St. Louis, was charged with three counts of burglary. He is accused of taking pistols Jan. 9 and the two previous nights.

He also is charged with possession of a firearm by a felon, based on a conviction in March 1995 for aggravated battery.

He faces no charges involving any of the other missing weapons.

The 151 pistols were seized in arrests or investigations by various law enforcement agencies in St. Clair County. The storage of the weapons was the responsibility of Circuit Clerk C. Barney Metz. 

Employees in his office discovered that weapons were missing when an area police department asked for the return of some it had confiscated. Metz asked the Sheriff's Department to immediately investigate.

Thornton said members of the department's drug tactical unit helped with the sting. "We did some surveillance on the evidence room and caught the guy coming out with the guns," he said.
Authorities say Williams somehow got a key from a deputy clerk's desk. He could face up to 15 years in prison. He is being held at the St. Clair County Jail. Bail was set at $100,000.
Authorities believe Williams acted alone but the investigation is continuing, Thornton said.

Williams worked for Foley Maintenance Service, based in Caseyville. It has a contract with the county's Public Building Commission.

Officials at Foley were unavailable for comment.

Metz said only pistols were taken. Rifles and some pistols were left behind.

None of the missing pistols was being held as evidence, Metz said. Weapons that might be needed for trial are kept separately in a locked vault. 

All the missing firearms would eventually have been turned over to the Sheriff's Department to be destroyed unless retrieved by the police department that confiscated them.

Metz said his office takes in 50 to 60 firearms a year and each is documented and recorded. The Sheriff's Department clears them out every three years or so.

At one time they were taken to a foundry to be melted down, but a few years ago Sheriff Mearl J. Justus began selling higher-quality guns to legitimate dealers, with proceeds used for law enforcement purposes. 

Metz said security has been tightened at his office. "The procedure remains the same, but we have put more security on the gun room," he said. That includes a solid door and double locks.

Thornton said police agencies around the area were on the lookout for the missing weapons. But, he acknowledged, "It's hard to track them once they hit the streets."

HEADLINE: VIDEO OF CONFRONTATION BETWEEN OFFICER, TRUSTEE IS MISSING 

WASHINGTON PARK -- A videotape showing a village trustee's aggressive actions toward a cop has disappeared from a police evidence locker. 

It was the central piece of evidence in a misdemeanor prosecution on charges of obstructing and assaulting a police officer filed about a year ago against Buddy McNatt, 60, a member of the village board. 

"I don't know where it is. I've looked everywhere, all over this place. I can't find it," said Washington Park Police Chief Wendell Wilson. He said he contacted Alonzo Perrin, the former police chief, about the videotape but still could not learn its whereabouts. The videotape was shot from a camera in a police car. 

Chris Heatherly, who was working as a police officer in Washington Park on Dec. 28, 2000, claimed McNatt interfered that day when he attempted to ticket several vehicles parked at McNatt's roofing business headquarters. Heatherly now works as a guard at the St. Clair County Jail. 

Initially, McNatt has said Heatherly had attacked him, knocked him to the ground, and pointed his service handgun at him. 

He was backed up by Public Safety Director John "Chico" Matt who gave about the same account. 

But a videotape shot from Heatherly's police cruiser showed that Heatherly never drew his weapon and that McNatt appeared to be the aggressor. The grainy tape shows McNatt rushing to confront Heatherly in the street, and then rolling up his sleeves in a fighting posture. 

The tape showed that Heatherly turned away from McNatt and then walked to one of McNatt's parked vehicles and looked inside. At that point, the tape shows that McNatt walked up behind Heartherly and touched the officer's shoulder causing him to spin around and, by grabbing McNatt's arm, force him to the ground. 

"It's real convenient that this turns up missing," said Heatherly on Thursday, "but it doesn't surprise me." He said that a prosecutor told him last week that the tape was missing but that the case was still headed to trial. A trial date has not been set. 

McNatt said Thursday that he received a letter last month from his lawyer stating that the charges had been dismissed. He could not produce the letter on Thursday. 

McNatt has repeatedly said that despite what the tape appears to show, he never hindered or assaulted Heatherly. 

HEADLINE: $31K from drug arrest missing from police safe 

That more than $31,000 in cash is missing from a safe isn't what makes the case ''an unusual occurrence,'' as state police Capt. Robert J. Bird put it.

No, that would be the location of the safe: the office of Maj. Stephen Leary, area state police commander, in the state police barracks in Holden.

Capt. Bird said internal affairs detectives are investigating the disappearance of $31,370 from a combination safe in the major's office. The cash was confiscated on Dec. 30 after Wilson Osorio, 28, of Worcester, was pulled over by police during a routine traffic stop in Auburn. 

A search of the vehicle turned up a bag of marijuana and drug packaging materials. The money was found in a hidden panel of the Volkswagen's dashboard.

Mr. Osorio subsequently was charged with trafficking in marijuana.

After Mr. Osorio's arrest, the evidence was placed in the second-floor safe.

The bundled money was discovered missing Jan. 9 when Sgt. James Nanof went to the safe to retrieve evidence for an unrelated case.

Capt. Bird said officers in the Staff Inspections Unit were called and inventoried the safe's contents.

Officials declined to say who had access to the safe or Maj. Leary's office.

Capt. Bird said no arrests have been made, and no administrative action has been taken against any trooper or officer.

''We still believe the protocols of custody for evidence are effective,'' the captain added.
He said the matter will be turned over to District Attorney John J. Conte if investigators determine a crime has taken place.

According to Capt. Bird, all seven barracks in Central Massachusetts have evidence safes. ''Significant'' amounts of evidence, however, are secured in a central location, which he declined to specify.

Capt. Bird said that to his knowledge, there has never been an incident of missing evidence at any barracks.

The Holden station serves as headquarters for Troop C, which includes barracks in Athol, Leominster, Belchertown, Sturbridge, Brookfield and Grafton.