HEADLINE: CASE EVIDENCE LOST TO DNA MATCHING

BYLINE: Staff And Wire Services 

The missing evidence involves cases investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The cases were not under active investigation but fell within the statute of limitations for sexual assaults. Homicide cases have no statute of limitations.

Both law enforcement agencies denied that they had "lost" any evidence but acknowledged that evidence in rape cases is discarded after the statute of limitations runs out and prosecution is no longer possible. Under a new state law, that period was extended for three years, so the law may have given new relevance to some discarded evidence.

"We're not losing evidence," said Sgt. Ronald Fernstrom of the Sheriff's Department. "The dispute is, is evidence still retained?" Even before the new law was passed, the department kept evidence in anticipation of the statute of limitations being extended, Fernstrom said, adding that homicide evidence is kept indefinitely.

The LAPD also defended its record of keeping old evidence.  "The city of Los Angeles has not lost 6,000 pieces of biological evidence. To the best of my knowledge, we have not lost any biological evidence," said Dave Peterson, commanding officer of LAPD's Property Division. "Has there been any biological evidence that has not had its DNA analyzed? Absolutely," said Peterson, whose division stores 55,382 frozen biological samples.

Most of the samples are in rape evidence kits and include fingernail scrapings, blood, semen and even saliva, all kept in a network of freezers at Parker Center downtown. Since courts began allowing DNA as evidence in the mid-1980s, "the growth in biological evidence collection has been astronomical," he said. "We've been adding freezer space multiple times per year."

The division now has two living-room sized walk-in freezers and seven freezer trailers and is in the process of buying two more walk-ins, Peterson said. Using a state grant created with the new evidence law last year, prosecutors had planned to extract DNA from the samples and put that information into a database. When the DNA of a new suspect is tested, it would be compared to the database in hopes of finding a match with an old case.

Kahn believes the missing evidence could have helped catch some rapists and killers. However, she did not speculate on how many.

"But there is a chance we could solve those cases today," she said.

The DNA matching is being done under the California Cold Hit grant program.

HEADLINE: DuPage police aren't sure where to store clues they must keep forever 

There's the Winnie-the-Pooh blanket under which Evans' body was discovered after her killers stabbed her, shot her and then savagely sliced the full-term fetus out of her womb.

There's the broken pair of scissors believed to have been used to murder her 10-year-old daughter, Samantha. There's the blue nightgown and knit cap Samantha was wearing at the time.

Two of the three people convicted in the Evans' case - Jacqueline Williams and Fedell Caffey - sit on death row, their executions on hold because of Gov. George Ryan's capital punishment moratorium. A third convict, Laverne Ward, is serving a life term.

But even after the three exhaust all their appeals, and possibly even after their deaths, the nearly 1,000 pieces of evidence acquired in that triple murder will remain in storage at the Addison Police Department's evidence facility.

That's the result of a state law enacted last year requiring evidence taken from a homicide case be kept forever.

The law also lengthened, to 25 years, how long evidence must be preserved from sexual assault cases, while requiring that evidence from felonies in which DNA was used be retained for seven years.

In a state where more than a dozen former death-row inmates have been exonerated, the law is meant to provide further protection for the falsely convicted.  Many of those inmates were cleared through DNA tests that hadn't yet been developed at the time of their trials. Likewise, the new law someday could exonerate someone with future evidence analysis techniques that haven't yet been conceived.  "All in all, it's a good law," said West Chicago police evidence custodian Dennis Johnson. "It protects the innocent and proves the guilty."  But beyond the legal merits of the law itself, it also has created a logjam for some local police departments, which are running out of storage space for all the evidence they must keep.

Because of growing evidence-storage demands, towns that recently have built or are building new police stations, like Lisle and Itasca, planned for the need for additional storage capacity.  When Addison recently renovated its police station, it moved its evidence storage operation to a separate location devoted almost entirely to that function.

In Lombard, a new security cage for evidence will be constructed in the police station basement later this month, and police are requesting money to buy movable shelving to create more storage space.  But in Carol Stream, police say that based on past crime rates, they expect to run out of evidence storage space sometime in the next few years.  "It's going to have a huge impact," Deputy Chief Rick Willing said.

Carol Stream already has converted closets and other rooms in its headquarters into evidence storage. Though officials expect to have at least two years before they run out of space entirely, one major case could shorten that grace period dramatically.

Last fall, many police departments lost valuable storage capacity during the anthrax scare because of all the bio-terrorism false alarms that had to be investigated.  "You have something like a multiple homicide and that's a roomful of evidence. And once you take it and have it, you have to keep it," said Carol Stream Sgt. Jerry O'Brien. "There are no empty rooms in the whole building."

Because of the space crunch, the DuPage County Board is considering a proposal to convert a recycling center it owns in Carol Stream into a storage facility in which local police departments could rent space.

"Police departments tell us that evidence storage now has become a little monster because you can't ever get rid of (some of) this stuff," said DuPage County Deputy Administrator Greg Wilcox.  Because of security concerns, some departments are balking at the idea of storing their evidence outside of their own facilities.  "We would want (our evidence) right under our thumbs," said Tom Janaes, chief of administration for the DuPage County Sheriff.

Security is a major concern when it comes to evidence storage. Every item must be marked and tracked - some of the more high-tech outfits, like Addison, place bar codes on every piece of evidence - so there's no question in court that it hasn't been tampered with.  But another security concern is that many of the items themselves could be tempting to a thief.  "The things you've got to worry about in an evidence room are drugs, guns and money," Johnson said.  But while some police officials said they would want to keep those types of items in their possession at all times, others said an offsite facility, properly secured, could be used for paper records or for found objects that take up space in their main facilities.

Each day, police evidence custodians check in not just crime- scene evidence, but dozens of found items - from bowling balls to construction equipment to the ever popular bicycles, and even stray animals. And most storage rooms have rows upon rows of alcohol containers taken from DUI cases that sometimes linger in the court system for years.

In Addison, for example, the retention of evidence that was 10 years old helped convict a DUI repeat-offender arrested in another state.  Personal items or found items typically are held for a minimum amount of time and then returned to their owners. Items whose owners cannot be located eventually are destroyed or auctioned off, and guns are melted down. But in the case of evidence, usually a judge has to issue a court order before anything is destroyed.  Now more than ever, most police departments accumulate more evidence than they're able to get rid of. 
"One time, we destroyed more than 1,000 cases of evidence," said Barb Marrazzo, an Addison police evidence custodian. "To look at the shelves, you couldn't even tell they were missing."

HEADLINE: Georgetown's new mayor drops libel complaint against Brooks

DATELINE: GEORGETOWN, Colo. 

Newly elected mayor Lynn Granger has dropped libel charges against her predecessor, former stripper-turned mayor Koleen Brooks. Granger, who defeated Brooks in a recall election last week, said she made the decision after speaking with prosecutors, Assistant District Attorney Karen Romeo said Tuesday.

"There is a three-year statute of limitations and I may reconsider filing my affidavit down the road if she keeps doing this," Granger said. "She is messing with people's careers and reputations." 
Brooks' Web site accused Granger of using cocaine, helping an employee steal ammunition and drugs from an evidence locker, and of being fired from the Georgetown Police Department.

Granger, a dispatcher with the Black Hawk Police Department, said none of it was true and filed an affidavit seeking criminal charges against Brooks. Brooks said she had no control over anonymous comments posted on her Web site.

Granger was scheduled to be sworn in as mayor Tuesday night and said she was worried Brooks or her supporters might show up and cause a scene. "Hopefully, tonight will start the process of bringing the town back together," Granger said. "It's still so divided. I know it's going to take some time."

Zoning changes were the stated reason for the recall election last week, but people were also angry about what they claimed was Brooks' unprofessional conduct in office and alleged off-duty stunts. Critics said she bared her breasts in a local bar, which she denied.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation looked into allegations that she plotted to murder a police officer, but said there was insufficient evidence.

But Brooks faces criminal charges of tampering with evidence and false reporting to authorities for allegedly faking an attack on herself. She has denied staging an attack.

HEADLINE: Ex-guard pleads guilty in theft of cocaine from TBI office

DATELINE: NASHVILLE, Tenn.  

A man once employed as a private security guard pleaded guilty in the theft of 50 pounds of cocaine from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation headquarters.

Jody Mark Tolar, 28, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of conspiring to sell the drug. Tolar must serve at least 4 1/2 years of the sentence handed down Monday by Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Steve Dozier. As part of the guilty plea, two drug possession charges against Tolar were dropped.

Tolar told investigators he was working in the TBI building as a guard when he used a coat hanger to open the evidence room door. He was an employee of U.S. Security, a private company hired through a Florida contractor.

TBI officials discovered the cocaine was missing in January 2001 when Tennessee Highway Patrol officers wanted to use it as evidence in a trial. An agency spokesman said Tolar didn't undergo a background check before he got access to the building because U.S. Security failed to give the TBI his job application. Tolar was fired shortly before the cocaine was found missing because he had drug and driving charges pending against him. U.S. Security no longer supplies guards for the headquarters, which opened in fall 2000.

HEADLINE: Candidate vows 'to clean up' Chatham County

BYLINE: Angela Heywood Bible, Staff Writer 

If you think Jessup's joking, just check out one of the petitions he is circulating to win status as a write-in candidate in the general election in November. Or look at the 1,500 black-and-white campaign signs he said he has already planted throughout the county. "I'm tryin' to clean up Chatham County," Jessup said, "and rid 'em of all the dope dealers and the ... prostitutes, and everything else that's goin' on crooked."

Faced with problems such as drug trafficking, low visibility throughout the county, a high rate of unsolved property crimes and diminished public confidence in the department, six candidates filed to run for sheriff: incumbent Ike Gray, Siler City Police Sgt. James Bowden, County Commissioner Rick Givens, former Deputy Darden Jarman, retired Trooper Randy Knight and Pittsboro Police Sgt. Richard Webster.

According to the Chatham County Board of Elections, a convicted felon such as Jessup, whose citizenship rights have been restored, can run for county office. Jessup has to turn in 100 signatures in support of his candidacy by Aug. 7 to be eligible to run as a write-in.

Jessup said he knows many people aren't taking him seriously. "A lot of 'em laugh about it, but I don't think it's funny," he said, fixing a toothpick over his right ear. "I'm just as qualified as [the other candidates] are. I been a good boy for the last 10 years."

Jessup, a man who claims to know most of the county's dope dealers by name, pleaded guilty to felony larceny in 1986 and to felony possession of stolen goods and obtaining property by false pretense in 1990. "One time, me and another boy made an air compressor disappear," he said, "and I got stuck dealin' with it." Jessup has been charged with and ticketed in several other incidents. In August 2000, he was convicted of violating Chatham County's junkyard ordinance.

His land at 2841 Siler City Glendon Road is strewn with castaways, including about 20 car bodies, a handful of abandoned mobile homes, countless used tires, old auto batteries, engines, tractors, flattened Busch Lite boxes and crushed cans. His current home is built into a hillside beside his former house, the windows of which were shot out by someone driving by. Jessup said his knowledge of crime would help him drive drugs -- the county's worst problem -- out of town. "People are always asking, 'Are you gonna lock me up?' " Jessup said. "No," he tells them. "The deputies might, but I won't."

Dawn Stumpf, Chatham County director of elections, says many people have contacted her office asking about Jessup: "People are calling up and telling us, 'Vernon Jessup is running for sheriff. Can he be?' " His supporters say he should. Robert Pope, 37, of 2949 Siler City Glendon Road befriended Jessup when he moved to Chatham County from Pennsylvania a couple of years ago. He posted a Jessup campaign sign in his lawn-mower shop at home.

"I just feel like everyone has an equal opportunity to run," he said. "You can't judge somebody by appearance, because sometimes the worst person can be the very best person." Gerald L. Greene, 29, of 1102 Canterbury Drive, Siler City, has posted Jessup campaign signs in his yard six times. The first five, he said, have been knocked down, as have many other candidates' signs. "Anybody that thinks he could fill the spot," Greene said, "ought to be able to run for it."

HEADLINE: Plea Changed In Evidence Theft 

Ex-Lieutenant Pleads No Contest 

A former Sandoval County sheriff's lieutenant pleaded no contest to charges of larceny and tampering with evidence Wednesday morning.

Ramiro Flores, 48, who resigned from his sheriff's job in 1997, changed his plea Wednesday in 13th Judicial District Court after originally pleading innocent in October 2000.

The charges stem from events that occurred between Feb. 19, 1996, and July 31, 1997, court records said.  According to a September 2000 statement of probable cause, Flores was suspected of taking $6,835 from the sheriff's evidence safe.

The money had been defrauded from the Santa Ana Star Casino and was placed in the sheriff's evidence safe in February 1996, court records show. The officer in charge of the case, Detective Doug Woods, received word from the District Attorney's Office to return the money to the casino on July 30, 1997. When he went to retrieve the money from the safe, it was missing.

On Aug. 5, 1997, Woods told the officer in charge of investigating the lost money, Michael Spellman of the New Mexico State Police, that Flores said he had found the missing money that day in a side-pouch of his county-assigned pickup.

The next day, Flores told Spellman that he had continued to look for the money after it was reported missing and that he had last seen the money in March 1997 when he went into the evidence safe to pick up a kilo of cocaine to take to the crime laboratory in Santa Fe. Flores was a member of the Region I Drug Task Force.

Flores said he thought he must have accidentally picked up the money when he retrieved the cocaine and that the money must have fallen into the side-pouch of his truck. He said he never opened the bag the money was in and that it was the same money that was originally placed in the safe.

On Aug. 27, 1997, Spellman examined the recovered money and found that the amount was now $6,855, $20 more than the original sum, court records said. One month later, Spellman noted that the bills had 1995 serial numbers, and in September 1997 he sent the bills to the U.S. Secret Service. Spellman heard back from the Bureau of Printing and Engraving in December 1997 that 25 of the 27 bills Spellman had sent were issued after the money was put into evidence in February 1996.

Flores said he could not explain why the money was issued after it was taken into evidence, court records said. In May 2000, Thomas Rutledge of the 5th Judicial District in Roswell was brought in as special prosecutor for the case due to Flores' ties with the law enforcement community in Sandoval and surrounding counties.

Rutledge said in a telephone interview Wednesday night that the delay in prosecuting the case stemmed from the time-consuming lab work required by the Secret Service and the criminal lab in Santa Fe. The delay was furthered by the fact that all magistrates in the area had been excused and both the prosecution and defense had asked for several continuances, Rutledge said. The maximum sentence Flores could receive, based on the plea agreement, is three years in prison with two years of parole, Rutledge said.

HEADLINE: Patrol seeks charges for theft of evidence

DATELINE: CLEVELAND 

The State Highway Patrol wants criminal charges filed against a former state agent in the theft of evidence from the food stamp trafficking unit.

A special audit released this week by State Auditor Jim Petro shows that food stamp agents and supervisors were unable to account for drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, food and other items that undercover agents bought with food stamps between July 1995 and December 1999. The audit includes findings for recovery against Jan Hartman, a former food stamp agent and evidence officer, The Plain Dealer reported. Auditors said Hartman could not account for $1,328. 
Patrol spokesman Lt. Gary Lewis said the investigation began in 1999, when the patrol learned that an unidentified agent had improperly stored evidence in the Cincinnati Police Department's property room instead of in the food stamp unit's evidence room.

The state audit cites Hartman for improperly storing an unspecified amount of cash with Cincinnati police in 1996. Neither Lewis nor Ed Duvall, who supervises food stamp agents as head of the Ohio Department of Public Safety's investigative unit, would say whether Hartman is suspected of wrongdoing.

Lewis said the patrol has recommended that federal prosecutors in Columbus seek charges against a former agent assigned to a federal task force in Zanesville. Hartman could not be reached for comment. A spokesman for the state's personnel office said Hartman resigned in December 1999. He was paid $43,035 a year.

The audit criticizes the food stamp unit for sloppy bookkeeping. Evidence custody documents, food stamp transaction reports, physical inventory lists and other records did not jibe, Duvall said. They were so disorganized that the state still does not have a detailed accounting of what, and how much, is missing, he added. "It's obviously embarrassing to find out that supervision could have been better and that policies weren't being adhered to as we would like them, but then you have to understand that this is very detailed scrutiny of a unit that is no longer in existence," Duvall told the newspaper.

Auditors reported they were unable to determine what happened to evidence in 167 cases. "We could not determine the disposition of food stamps totaling $2,580 and pieces of evidence consisting of drugs, cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, audio tapes, food items, lottery tickets, photographs, drug paraphernalia, an automobile and miscellaneous paper documents," the auditors wrote.

The audit also cited unit investigators for illegally giving informants $695 worth of food stamps in exchange for information, and for failing to inform the U.S. Department of Agriculture when food stamps were stolen during investigations.

Duvall, a former Akron police lieutenant, reorganized the food stamp unit, and food stamp and state liquor agents now work side by side in the public safety's investigative unit. He said he requested the audit and criminal investigation shortly after taking over the investigative unit in May 1999.

HEADLINE: CLERK'S OFFICE TAKE STEPS TO IMPROVE SECURITY OF EVIDENCE

BYLINE: LOU MISSELHORN THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

DATELINE: NORFOLK NORFOLK

Teich recently requested new storage space near the evidence room, where material from the Derek R. Barnabei and Chauncey Jackson cases was misplaced or lost. 
He made the issue a priority in the fall, when he decided his office would not throw away any criminal evidence, even in cases where appeals have been exhausted.

The extra space will allow evidence, including weapons, bullets, clothing, notes and drugs, to be neatly organized. Soon, the clerk's office will store court reporters' notes on computer, eliminating large volumes of records that must be kept for 10 years. "It's a big battle for space," Teich said.

The request is one of several steps taken to improve security in the 700-square-foot cinder-block evidence room. An addition of 200 square feet, about the size of a spacious living room, would help, he said. The first incident of missing evidence arose in August 2000, when clerks couldn't find DNA in the Barnabei case. He was convicted in 1993 of killing 17-year-old Sarah Wisnosky and sentenced to die. His attorneys thought the DNA, which was not tested before the trial, would clear him. Three days after an envelope containing evidence was reported missing, state police found the package of blood samples and nail clippings elsewhere in the room. No one determined how or why the evidence was moved. Two court clerks were issued letters of reprimand for failing to do a thorough search, Teich said. Genetic tests did not clear Barnabei, and he was executed Sept. 14, 2000.

Within weeks, Teich had a swipe-key lock system installed and reduced access to five office supervisors. Previously, all court employees could enter. The second major case of missing evidence involved Chauncey Jackson, once among the nation's youngest death-row inmates. In November 2001, Jackson pleaded guilty to killing Ronald Bonney Jr. and was sentenced to life plus 48 years in prison for the 1994 crime. He will be eligible for parole in about five years.
Judge Joseph A. Leafe ruled that pictures of the bullets and shell casings were sufficient to show to witnesses, but defense attorneys said they would have harped on the missing evidence in making their case.

The special prosecutor, who had declined earlier attempts to settle the case, said potential jurors' reactions to the lack of physical evidence was a factor in reaching a plea agreement. At the time, Teich said he thought the evidence was destroyed, but he now suspects the material was lost as it was sent to and from prosecutors and the Virginia Supreme Court, which overturned Jackson's original 1997 death-penalty conviction.

Since the Jackson case was resolved, Teich said, the clerk's office has created a more efficient system of tracking evidence that leaves the courthouse.

HEADLINE: One Keystone officer returns

BYLINE: From staff, wire reports 

A State Police spokeswoman at Welch said the missing evidence investigation has yet to be assigned to a trooper. Prosecuting Attorney Sid Bell had asked State Police to conduct the investigation after receiving notification from McKinney, she said. That request has been forwarded to State Police headquarters in South Charleston. On Friday, Toler sent a letter to the media saying one reason for his departure was a State Police investigation of missing drugs that had been stored as evidence at City Hall.

"We are all suspects to the public and each other. No department can be effective and operate efficiently with this black cloud hanging over its head. The citizens of Keystone deserve a police department that is devoted to law enforcement, not spending all their time wondering who, what, where and why," Toler wrote.

"I believe he [Toler] said that he did not feel that he could function with the scandal around him. I disagree," McKinney said Monday. "Officer Toler is someone I've trusted for a number of years in both law enforcement and in the community as a personal friend. If he did not come back, it would be a loss to the law enforcement community."

McKinney said he would welcome Toler back, but that if the officer did not return to work, he would fill the vacancy Friday.

HEADLINE: TBI headquarters gets new security force

DATELINE: NASHVILLE, Tenn. 

The new uniformed security guards began working in February. They must undergo evaluations and background checks similar to those for TBI agents. "It made more sense to have someone there who is trained to use a weapon and in general police tactics," said TBI spokeswoman Jeanne Broadwell.

Broadwell said a 6-foot high fence with motion detectors was added to the perimeter of the campus, plus other undisclosed safeguards. The new force replaces private security provided by U.S. Security. That company was a subcontractor for Meridian Management Corp., which provided a range of services from cleaning to lawn care for the TBI, officials said last year.

Jody Mark Tolar was a U.S. Security employee when he stole the cocaine. He was sentenced in early April to 15 years in prison on charges of conspiring to sell the drug. The TBI said Tolar didn't undergo a background check before he got access to the building because U.S. Security failed to give the TBI his job application. Tolar was fired shortly before the cocaine was found missing because he had drug and driving charges pending against him.

Officials estimate that the new security force will cost $322,625 this year, about $100,000 a year more than the private security guards.

HEADLINE: Cocaine Heist

BYLINE: By JOAN OSTERWALDER, City News Service

DATELINE: LOS ANGELES 

Ruelas is charged with one count each of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and possession with intent to distribute cocaine.  His trial in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder is expected to last about three weeks. "The plan was to stage a burglary, to take cocaine, to transport it far away from the (Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement) office and to sell it," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Lizabeth Rhodes.

Ruelas' half-brother, Richard Wayne Parker, worked as a BNE special agent and gave Ruelas the keys to the vault and the code for the alarm, the prosecutor said. When Ruelas came out of the building, he was "straining under the weight" of the drugs stuffed in two large bags, she said.
Former CHP officer Michael Wilcox acted as the lookout and drove the getaway car, she alleged. When the burglary was discovered three days later, the door to the locker looked like it had been pried open, and the alarm appeared to have been bypassed, the prosecutor said. 
"This group was going to make sure that this crime was as near perfect as possible," Rhodes said. Because the first trip was so successful, she said, the group returned for more.

Parker, 47, was sentenced in January 2000 to life in federal prison without parole and fined $16 million for selling the stolen cocaine. Wilcox pleaded guilty to a pair of federal charges and is now a prosecution witness.

Wilcox agreed to cooperate with the government and met with Ruelas, Rhodes said. During those meetings, Ruelas told Wilcox he knew his half-brother wouldn't implicate Wilcox because that would lead to him, as well, the prosecutor said.

Ruelas allegedly coached Wilcox on what to tell law enforcement if Wilcox was approached. Authorities arrested Ruelas after he met Wilcox at the Fresno airport, where a metal detector revealed Wilcox's recording device.

Parker's drug network stretched from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, Honolulu to Detroit, according to the government. Parker was arrested in July 1998, after his former girlfriend was seen delivering to him an envelope containing $47,000. A search of his home and car turned up another $599,999. Ruelas had not been charged at the time of his half-brother's trial, which he attended regularly.

The prosecutor alleged that Ruelas, Parker and former Pima County sheriff's Deputy James Tracy Strickler committed home invasion robberies in Huntington Beach, Tuna Canyon in Malibu and North Hollywood by posing as legitimate law enforcement officers in the early 1990s. Strickler pleaded guilty to a federal charge and is a government witness. But Ruelas' attorney, Joel Levine, said his client "emphatically denies" that he participated in the burglary and denies being a co-conspirator in the alleged previous crimes.

Levine told the jury to be cautious about the testimony of Wilcox and Strickler because they want to "get a break on their sentencings." The lawyer said the drug dealers will testify they never dealt with Ruelas. "The false testimony here will not be sufficient to convict Mr. Ruelas," Levine said.