November 1, 2002 Friday 3RD 

HEADLINE: Missing $4 prompts evidence room inquiry; Civilian employee who had access is suspended; SBI investigating

DATELINE: MOORESVILLE 

Mooresville Police Chief John Crone suspended one employee and asked the SBI to investigate, after determining that $4 is missing from the department's evidence room.

Crone said officers told him late last week that money from the evidence room may have been mishandled. 

Last Friday, he determined that $4 is missing and suspended without pay a civilian employee who has access to the room. He did not name the employee. On Monday, he asked the SBI to investigate. "There is potential criminal conduct involved," he said. Crone would not explain what he thinks happened to the money or say whether he thinks more than $4 is involved. He said it is routine to ask another agency to investigate anytime a police employee is suspected of wrongdoing.

It would be inappropriate for him to say much about the SBI's investigation, he said. Crone expects the investigation will take a week or two. SBI officials could not immediately be reached but typically do not comment on ong4oing investigations. 

HEADLINE: Detroit evidence room scoured for $5 million; Cops not certain confiscated cash amid the clutter 

Still reeling from the scandal over the alleged theft of cocaine from the storage facility, police say they are sure most of the money is probably somewhere on the disorganized shelves.

A key problem is a computer-generated index to the evidence room that does not match with what is actually on the shelves.   Since police are focusing first on sorting out the cash, it's too soon to tell whether evidence in active cases may have been misplaced as well.

"It's frustrating. It's pretty much like trying to audit your checkbook when you've written 13,000 checks and don't have any bank statements," said Deputy Chief Gary Brown of the Professional Accountability Bureau. "We're still counting money and putting it into the bank, but we're not in the position to conduct an audit until the situation is in a more manageable state."

In some cases, guided by the computerized index, envelopes of cash appear to be missing, Brown said. "Then there's one of three scenarios: It's misplaced and in a different bin, it's missing, or it has already been deposited in the bank," he said. "Once we have everything we can account for deposited in the bank, we'll go back and try to find out what happened to the missing envelopes."

Brown promised the Detroit Police Board of Commissioners after the Oct. 9 cocaine scandal to get the evidence room in order as soon as possible. In the cocaine scandal, nine people, including a longtime civilian employee, were indicted on charges of stealing 223 pounds of cocaine from the evidence room on the first floor of police headquarters at 1300 Beaubien. The main defendant, John Cole Sr., 50, allegedly replaced the evidentiary cocaine with flour, sold it and used the proceeds for real-estate transactions.

The Rev. Edgar Vann Jr., a police commissioner, commends Brown's effort to sort out the mess. "There's no way you can make sense of what is nonsense -- and that is what the property room is," said Vann, who has toured the room. "I had a feeling it was going to take longer than they expected."

For years, the Police Department has stored property in the sprawling facility in which different types of evidence were mixed together on overflowing metal bins. "When I was in there several years ago, I was amazed at the obvious disorganization," said Juan Mateo, a Detroit attorney. "To this day, I have no idea how they keep track of anything in there."

Mateo said he has represented criminal defendants on several occasions in which property has been lost. On one occasion, he said, a homicide section officer had to take the stand and testify that an entire homicide file had been misplaced.

"If you lose evidence, you may be losing a case for a prosecutor if they can't substantiate an element of the defense," Mateo said.

Chief Jerry Oliver, in his push for a new headquarters building, had been candid about the outdated condition of the room. Oliver also said he cannot guarantee that other items haven't or won't be stolen if the room remains in its current state. He said the department needs a system in which evidence is bar-coded and computerized, so it can quickly be tracked at any time.

As a result of the current disorganization, Brown said, the department decided to start depositing money seized from drug forfeitures and evidentiary money that is not needed in court. Police are averaging $20,000 in deposits a day and have thus far counted about $250,000, he said. "We're trying to clean up years of neglect, and it's taking a lot longer than we expected," Brown said.

HEADLINE: Drug trial to be held despite stolen evidence 

DATELINE: EVANSDALE, Iowa 

Court officials say the drug trial of an Evansdale man will be held even though evidence against him was stolen from the state crime lab earlier this year.  Thomas Frerichs, who represents Brian Matthew McConnelee, 22, is seeking information about the June theft from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation lab in Des Moines for use in his client's upcoming trial.   Judge Thomas Bower granted part of the defense attorney's request last week. 

Evansdale police arrested McConnelee for possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, possession of marijuana and violation of the drug tax stamp act Feb. 9, according to court records. 

The drugs were sent to the DCI lab for testing and were stolen by an Altoona resident who was working on telephone lines in the lab's evidence room, authorities said.  Even though the methamphetamine and marijuana that police say McConnelee was carrying are now missing - allegedly sold to others by the thief - prosecutors aren't going to drop the case. 

Technicians had analyzed the narcotics before they were stolen, and prosecutors said the state can try to put the lab reports in front of a jury when the case goes to trial.  State officials said the tampered and stolen evidence hasn't hurt any of the 18 criminal cases with which the evidence was associated. 

The Altoona telephone technician, Michael David McGinnis, 27, pleaded guilty to narcotic and theft charges for taking the missing evidence last month, said Sgt. Robert Hansen of the Iowa Department of Public Safety. 

HEADLINE: Mooresville PD's evidence custodian fired in missing money probe An evidence custodian accused of taking more than $22,000 from the evidence room at the Mooresville Police Department has been fired.

Debbie Compton, the senior records clerk and evidence custodian, was dismissed from her job Monday based on allegations related to the missing money, said Police Chief John Crone.  She had been suspended without pay since Oct. 25.  "We need to move on and make the best out of a bad situation," Crone said. "She has been afforded due process."

No charges have been officially filed against Compton and will not be until the investigation is completed. She has admitted taking at least $17,000 but doesn't remember the exact amount, according to reports from the police department.

Agents with the State Bureau of Investigation were called to help investigate Compton in late October after Mooresville Police officers suspected Compton had repackaged money that was evidence in a drug case.   Later, it was discovered that $22,436 was missing.

Compton and Crone were the only two people in the police department who had keys that would access evidence lockers. It has not been determined how long money was taken. No other evidence appears to be tampered with Crone has said.

The department will begin advertising for a new records clerk/evidence custodian this week, Crone said. "We'll be conducting a thorough background check on this one," he said. 

HEADLINE: Former CHP officer gets 30 years for role in cocaine theft 

DATELINE: LOS ANGELES

Michael Wilcox, 42, of Fresno, was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison in August after pleading guilty to conspiring to distribute cocaine and to structuring a bank deposit to avoid federal reporting requirements. 

Wilcox recorded meetings with Ruelas, his former CHP partner, and testified against him at trial.  Richard Wayne Parker, 47, a veteran state narcotics agent and Ruelas' half-brother, was convicted in 1999 and is serving a life prison term.