HEADLINE: Ex-deputy denies drug theft; 
A former Chatham officer testifies in a wrongful termination lawsuit of another

PITTSBORO -- A former Chatham County chief deputy testified Thursday that he botched the handling of 5,000 pounds of marijuana evidence that was stolen from the department but said he did not swipe the drugs nor did he work to cover up the theft.

Randy Keck testified in Chatham County Superior Court during a wrongful termination lawsuit against former Sheriff Ike Gray. Gray is being sued by former Sgt. Dan Phillips, who says he was fired in 2001 in retaliation for alerting the FBI about the theft of marijuana from the old county landfill. Phillips also says he was fired because of his attempt to expose racism in Chatham County schools by making a tape recording of a former high school principal using racial slurs. 

Gray has said he fired Phillips for insubordination.

About 4,000 pounds of marijuana were stolen from a surplus Army truck parked behind the sheriff's office. An additional 1,000 pounds was later taken from the landfill. The drugs, which had a street value of $5 million, had been seized in February 2000 during an undercover sting.

In September 2000, Keck was in charge of the department's narcotics unit. He testified that he followed virtually none of the proper procedures for handling the drugs. His missteps included going to the landfill alone to bury the marijuana and not taking steps to destroy the drugs.

Phillips' attorney, Al McSurely, suggested that Keck ditched the two deputies who were supposed to go with him to the dump so he could steal the drugs. McSurely said the jury would have to "take your word for it that you went directly to the landfill."

McSurely suggested Keck's desire to cover up the thefts is what prompted him to tell Gray that Phillips was insubordinate. Keck testified that he told Gray that Phillips had threatened to sue him during an internal affairs investigation into the tape of the principal.

McSurely contends there was a countywide conspiracy to fire Phillips to silence him about the thefts and racist incidents at Chatham Central High School.

Keck testified that he had no part in firing Phillips and didn't warn deputies to "keep their mouths shut" about the thefts. He said he does not know of any incidents in which Gray condoned racism or threatened employees about speaking out.

Like Gray, he placed much of the responsibility for admonishing deputies at the feet of former Sheriff Don Whitt.

Choking up at times, Keck said he did not steal the marijuana. He said he simply made some mistakes.

"I made some bad judgments. I let the people of Chatham County down and I am sorry for that," he said. "The only thing you have is your pride, and I don't have that anymore because I did something stupid."

Former deputy Jeffrey Scott testified later for the plaintiff and refuted many of Keck's statements, including those about not threatening officers who considered speaking out about the missing drugs.

Scott testified that Keck told him and another deputy that they would be indicted by the FBI if they said anything about the thefts. Scott also said Keck denied requests from deputies that the drugs be properly logged and destroyed.

Judge Douglas Albright prohibited the Rev. Carrie Bolton from testifying. He ruled that her testimony was irrelevant. McSurely sought to have the local civil rights activist testify about the racial climate in Chatham.

HEADLINE: Second probe under way;
NEW CASE: Evidence thefts in West Covina may involve an ex-Hemet technician, police say.

A former Hemet police employee charged in the theft of money from the station's evidence room surrendered to authorities late Wednesday, officials said Thursday.

Steven John Smith, 42, now faces a separate investigation by West Covina police, a department spokesman said. Smith worked there prior to coming to Hemet and West Covina investigators want to determine if he is suspected of taking items from that department's evidence room.

Smith posted $ 25,000 bail at the Hemet police station Wednesday night, police said. He has a March 30 court date at the Southwest Justice Center. He was charged with embezzlement in
February.

Neither Smith nor his Hemet attorney, Michael J. Angeloff, could be reached for comment Thursday.

The charge also has affected the case of a man Smith testified against while working for Hemet police.

In December, a jury convicted Hemet resident Sidney Allen Davis, 74, of poisoning his wife Shirley Davis with antifreeze.

Sidney Davis was arrested in February 2004 at the couple's Hemet home. Shirley Davis, who had a form of Alzheimer's disease, was 81 when she died in 2003 at Hemet Valley Medical Center.

Davis' attorneys may seek a new trial because they say Smith's credibility is questionable.

Deputy District attorney Mark Mandio has said Smith's testimony does not change the facts in the case that led a jury to convict Davis.

Smith worked for the Hemet department less than two years but resigned in January after an internal investigation, police officials said. He worked as a nonsworn crime-scene technician.

His duties included photography and collecting and booking evidence into the evidence room.

West Covina police spokesman Rudy Lopez confirmed Thursday that his department is investigating Smith in connection with evidence-related thefts.

Officers found property at Smith's Hemet home that they believe was stolen from the West Covina Police Department's evidence storage area, Hemet police Lt. Rob Webb said. The discovery occurred last month when officers served a search warrant.

Officials at West Covina police and the Los Angeles County district attorney's office could not be reached Thursday to elaborate on Smith's duties at the department or the possibility of charges being filed against him.

Prosecutors allege that between May 18, 2004 and July 1, 2004, Smith took an undisclosed amount of money from the evidence room at Hemet police station. The money was evidence in a bank robbery case, police said.

In the antifreeze case, Davis is set to appear for sentencing at court in French Valley today, though the proceeding is expected to be postponed, court officials said.

HEADLINE: Trust is key to crime lab security; Safeguards go only so far, experts say

Law enforcement agencies go to great lengths to make sure evidence is secure: They double lock it, restrict who has access to it and conduct audits to make sure it isn't tampered with or missing.

But sometimes, routine safeguards are not enough.

An assistant director at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's crime laboratory in St. Paul was arrested Friday on suspicion of stealing cocaine from the lab. His arrest prompted the agency to look at its lab procedures and highlighted the challenges law enforcement agencies everywhere face in protecting the sanctity of evidence. 

An initial review at the BCA found procedures for handling evidence were "followed very meticulously," Michael Campion, Minnesota Public Safety Department commissioner, said Friday. It doesn't appear additional precautions would have stopped the alleged theft because David Bruce Petersen, 46, had access all over the building and there seems to have been "a significant breech of trust," Campion said.

The integrity of evidence is taken seriously in the criminal justice system.

"One of the cornerstones of our ability to prove crimes and to secure convictions for criminal offenses is that the evidence is deemed valid in court -- and with bad controls in your property room, with loose chain of custody processes, your evidence integrity is probably going to be diminished," said Eagan Police Chief Kent Therkelsen. "You don't want that to happen."

Authorities have said the drugs Petersen allegedly stole (as much as 1 kilogram of cocaine at one point) have no evidentiary value, so cases won't be jeopardized. The drugs were used in "reverse stings," when undercover officers had to display drugs.

In Missouri and Washington in recent years, hundreds of drug cases were dismissed and some convictions were overturned after employees in state crime labs were found to have stolen drugs from their labs. The employees in those cases, though, reportedly took the drugs from pending cases.

Peter Wold, immediate past president of the Minnesota Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said Petersen's arrest could lead to inquiries into drug cases locally.

"There could certainly be suggestions or questions that drugs have been replaced, whether the weight is right," he said. "It undermines the integrity of the law enforcement organization, and that's never a good thing for a prosecutor."

As an administrator, Petersen didn't actively handle lab work, BCA spokesman Kevin Smith said Friday.

Neither he nor the BCA's superintendent returned calls seeking comment Saturday.

Petersen, who also is the president of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors, is being held in the Ramsey County jail. A woman who answered the door at his St. Paul home Saturday declined to comment. Police said they would present their case to the Ramsey County attorney's office Monday to be considered for possible charges.

Robert Doran, an Illinois-based police consultant and author on evidence storage and security, said it's good practice to keep narcotics evidence in "double secure storage," which could be a vault within a secure property room.

Most police officers never enter the property room. At the St. Paul and Eagan departments, officers secure evidence they've seized in lockers outside the rooms. In St. Paul, even the police chief doesn't have access to the room, said officer Paul Schnell, department spokesman.

Drug thefts from labs or property rooms, which are rare, often involve drugs from old cases, Doran said.

"No. 1, the employee has knowledge that these are old cases and, in all likelihood, won't be looked at again," he said. "If the drugs disappear, what's the probability of that coming to someone's attention?"

Those in law enforcement know "there is no such thing as pure control," Schnell said.

"We certainly build in as many checks and cross-checks as possible, and that should allow breeches to be discovered more quickly, but the issue is you have to trust the people you have working and running the unit," he said.

Mara H. Gottfried covers St. Paul public safety. She can be reached at 
mgottfried@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5262.

HEADLINE: BCA worker had hoped to swap cocaine; Lab employee is charged with possession

BYLINE: BY SHANNON PRATHER; Pioneer Press

When the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension moved its St. Paul offices in November 2003, an undocumented kilo -- 2.2 pounds -- of cocaine from a 1980s drug case was left behind, perhaps because it fell from a shelf and went unnoticed.

No one, including Assistant Crime Lab Director David Bruce Petersen, knew it was missing until January 2005, when the new owners of the University Avenue building called him to report their discovery of what appeared to be crime lab evidence.

As he recently told police, Petersen welcomed the call as a "gift from God."

According to a criminal complaint filed in Ramsey County District Court on Monday, when he was charged with possession of 25 grams or more of cocaine, Petersen had previously begun sneaking into the BCA's walk-in evidence vault and coring out a brick of cocaine used by undercover officers for drug stings. 

From December 2004 until this month, Petersen admitted, he took one to two golf-ball sized amounts of cocaine. Petersen told police he moved the kilo he was coring to a cardboard box in the back of the vault, according to the complaint. A recovering alcoholic who says he lapsed in 2004, Petersen told police he was worried about how he would replace the missing cocaine.
Then came the phone call.

Petersen picked up the kilogram of cocaine and reported it to his supervisor, whom he expected would order the drugs destroyed, according to the complaint. He admitted to police he planned to wait until the order was final, exchange the drug's wrapper with the kilo he had been siphoning off and replace it.

But on March 1, a BCA special agent noticed Petersen was making several trips to a storage locker, where BCA staff found unsecured drugs. BCA authorities called St. Paul police, who searched Petersen's home and allegedly discovered trace amounts of cocaine in a basement room hidden behind a bookcase. Petersen admitted cutting the cocaine at his Hamline Avenue home, according to the complaint.

Defense attorney Mark Larsen said in court Monday that Petersen had an "unblemished record" while working at the BCA but suffered from a substance abuse problem.

A BCA spokesman said the allegations against Petersen are isolated and will not jeopardize criminal cases. But the state's crime lab is tightening access to the drug stash that Petersen is accused of raiding.

"This was one person who acted alone, who had access, who had the authority and who breached the trust," said Kevin Smith, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, which oversees the BCA. "You extract him from the environment and everything is fine."

Ramsey County District Judge Lawrence Cohen set bail at $15,000 plus conditions, including drug treatment. The charge is a felony punishable upon conviction by up to 30 years in prison.
Petersen's wife, two children and family pastor sat in the front row of the courtroom Monday. They declined to comment.

Petersen started at the BCA in October 1981 as a crime lab analyst trainee. He left in 1986 to work for Hewlett Packard but returned in 1989. He was promoted to one of three assistant lab director positions in 1998, overseeing toxicology and breath tests, firearms and evidence intake in 1998. Petersen, who earns $81,600 a year, is on paid investigatory leave, Smith said.

Smith said other BCA employees did not uncover the missing drugs sooner because Petersen is one of the few employees with access to the stash used by undercover agents and they haven't used cocaine in an arrest since 2003.

"Cocaine we don't see much anymore. The focus is on methamphetamine," Smith said.

Smith said BCA employees undergo criminal background checks when hired but are not drug-tested. He said that they are considering drug testing, but that there has been resistance from the labor union to such screening. In 2004, the BCA crime lab processed evidence from 12,725 cases, including 3,700 narcotics cases.

Smith said other BCA employees are coping with the news.

"There are three main emotions. There is absolute shock. There is some anger involved," Smith said. "There is sadness for Mr. Petersen, his family and the BCA family."

Shannon Prather can be reached at sprather@pioneerpress.com

HEADLINE: Police respond to evidence issues

The officer in charge of the Albuquerque Police Department evidence room called the mess in the bin of methamphetamine evidence "gooey."

Capt. Larry Sonntag said contrary to news reports over the past two days, the mess involving a mix of chemicals in a large evidence bin in early February and a water leak last year did not endanger any other cases. 

"In the context of us going through and physically inventorying up to a million individual items, we came across a large tub that contained individual containers (of chemicals from a methamphetamine bust). Somebody spotted browning and containers dripping that shouldn't be," Sonntag said.

A chemical cleanup crew was called in, the chemicals in the bin inventoried and then destroyed, Sonntag said.

"Not one single case, that I am aware of, is in jeopardy," Sonntag said, responding to concerns raised by a letter sent from an attorney to department Chief Gilbert Gallegos saying evidence from hundreds of cases was compromised by a chemical spill.

The attorney, Rob Perry, represents former evidence-room manager Capt. Marie Miranda, who was transferred out the position, Sonntag said.

Perry was out of town this morning and not available for comment.

The office of Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg declined to discuss the letter, because it relates to active criminal investigations into practices at the evidence room.

In another event reported recently that occurred last year, a water leak in the evidence room, located at 5350 Second St. in the Metropolitan Forensic Science Center, did get to a few boxes, but the water did not ruin any cases, Director of Public Safety Nick Bakas said today.
"No homicide, no rape cases, no cases were implicated or jeopardized. And a lot of the stuff was set for (routine) destruction anyway," Bakas said.

The room and police policies concerning evidence preservation have been under scrutiny for years and under investigation by the Attorney General's Office for about a year, Sonntag said.

Allegations against the evidence-handling procedures and personnel include deliberate mishandling of evidence to cover up mistakes and a lack of organization that led to loose and unmarked evidence.

Sonntag acknowledges that for the past 25 years, the department has not kept up the best evidence-room practices.

"As a department, we haven't done a good job of the back end (disposing of evidence once it is no longer necessary)," Sonntag said.

But, he said, new policies and software require the department's 11 civilian evidence-room technicians to bar-code every piece and go through the entire room tracking and re-entering every piece into the new computer system.

HEADLINE: Cleanup Destroyed APD Evidence

Letter to police chief says hundreds of cases involved

Evidence from hundreds of drug cases was destroyed last year at the Albuquerque Police Department during the cleanup of hazardous chemicals, according to the former commander of the evidence unit.

A letter written to Police Chief Gilbert Gallegos by attorney Rob Perry, who is representing Capt. Marie Miranda, also alleges that evidence from several homicide and sexual assault cases has been "compromised" by the chemicals. 

In the letter, Perry also said that his client had previously reported to Gallegos and other commanding officers "a number of troubling practices at the Albuquerque Police Department's Evidence Unit in the past year."

Perry's letter adds one more voice to mounting criticism of the department over its handling of long-running problems in its evidence room.

A year ago, a memo written by an anonymous author was sent to law enforcement officials alleging weapons, jewelry and cash were missing. That memo questioned APD's handling of the problems, alleging the department was trying to cover up.

Perry's letter did not specify the source of the leak or what leaked, but said it was cleaned up by a hazardous chemical removal company that was called in by a city safety officer. It said police and other city personnel experienced rashes, chemical irritation and other medical difficulties because of the leak.

Cases in which evidence was destroyed involve state and federal crimes that occurred between 2002 to 2004, the letter claims.

When asked Tuesday about the leak and when it occurred, Gallegos said he didn't know about it until he received Perry's letter Monday. He said he was going to forward the letter, which included other accusations of other problems in the evidence unit, to the department's Internal Affairs Division to investigate.

"I welcome (Miranda's) information," Gallegos said. "It helps us with our internal investigation."
APD and the state Attorney General's Office already are investigating allegations of theft from the evidence room.

Copies of Perry's letter were sent to U.S. Attorney David Iglesias and Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg.

On Tuesday, Perry would not comment about the letter but acknowledged that he had sent it to Gallegos.

"I think it basically speaks for itself," Perry said. "I am not at liberty to make any comments at this point."

Perry apparently wrote the letter, dated March 7, because Gallegos had called his client to appear in his office for an "interrogation" on Tuesday.

The chief wanted to know of any "incidents of misconduct" within the department, the letter states.

"There are many-many other potential instances of valuable property; clothing-underwear lying on the floor, unidentified-untagged drug packages, completely open containers and other compromised sensitive evidence," the letter states.

Gallegos said he called Miranda into his office because he had heard rumors that she had information of possible wrongdoings. He said the captain was not in trouble.

Gallegos said he did not know why Miranda hired an attorney.

"We want to know to what extent there is any damage to any evidence," Gallegos said. "We have initiated steps at getting this thing solved."

In his letter, Perry said he planned to attend the meeting with Miranda and the chief.

He also wrote: "I am hopeful that no retaliatory action either directly or constructively against Captain Miranda takes place."

Brandenburg said after she received the letter Monday she asked her staff to determine what cases are involved. She said Tuesday that cases could be hurt if evidence was destroyed.

But, she said that even if a case is missing evidence, a conviction is possible based on eyewitness testimony and other evidence obtained in the case.

"This letter raises questions, but it doesn't say anything specific," Brandenburg said. "It doesn't give us the information we need. Anything that compromises evidence compromises a case. Yes, we are concerned, and we want evidence to remain intact."

In response to the anonymous letter last year, Gallegos called for an independent audit and asked the AG's Office to investigate.

Paul Nixon, an AG spokesman, said the investigation is ongoing and that he couldn't comment further.

About a month ago, Miranda was transferred from her position at the evidence unit to the Foothills area command.

She was replaced by Capt. Larry Sonntag, who wrote a memo last October criticizing the chief and the department's handling of the evidence investigation. Sonntag said APD officials did nothing to prevent the destruction of evidence that would convict those who might be involved in criminal activity.

HEADLINE: Albuquerque police find evidence destroyed

DATELINE: ALBUQUERQUE

The former commander of the Albuquerque Police Department's evidence unit is alleging a cleanup of hazardous chemicals destroyed evidence from hundreds of drug cases and that the chemicals compromised evidence from murder and sexual assault cases.

The Albuquerque Journal, in a copyright story Wednesday, said an attorney for Capt. Marie Miranda wrote that she previously told Albuquerque Police Chief Gilbert Gallegos and other commanders about "a number of troubling practices at the Albuquerque Police Department's evidence unit in the past year."

Attorney Rob Perry, in a letter to Gallegos, contends evidence was destroyed in cases involving state and federal crimes between 2002 and 2004. 

Gallegos said he did not know about the allegations until he received Perry's letter. He said he planned to send it on to the department's internal affairs unit to investigation.

"I welcome (Miranda's) information," he said. "It helps us with our internal investigation."

A year ago, an anonymous author sent a memo to law enforcement officials alleging that weapons, jewelry and cash were missing. The memo alleged the department was trying to cover up the problems.

The department and the state attorney general's office have been investigating those allegations. Paul Nixon, a spokesman for the attorney general, said the investigation is continuing.

Perry's letter did not specify the source of the hazardous chemicals, but said a hazardous chemical removal company called in by a city safety officer did the cleanup.

Copies of Perry's letter, dated Monday, went to U.S. Attorney David Iglesias and District Attorney Kari Brandenburg. Brandenburg said she asked her staff to determine what cases are involved.

Perry would not comment on the letter Tuesday.

"I think it basically speaks for itself," he said.

The letter said Gallegos called Miranda to come to his office next Tuesday because he wants to know about "any incidents of misconduct" in the department. Perry said he plans to attend.

Gallegos said he called Miranda in because he'd heard rumors she had information about possible wrongdoing. He said she was not in trouble and he did not know why she hired an attorney.

"We want to know to what extent there is any damage to evidence," the chief said. "We have initiated steps at getting this thing solved."

The letter said: "There are many, many other potential instances of valuable property; clothing-underwear lying on the floor, unidentified untagged drug packages, completely open containers and other compromised sensitive evidence."

Meanwhile, police officers have been finding guns, ammunition, drugs and money in the evidence room over the past two years that lack records of where they came from. Police have filed more than 40 reports involving the evidence room, many describing evidence without identification tags.

The most recent reports were filed in December. Gallegos said he was not aware of the reports but assumed they resulted from officers doing an inventory to determine what's missing.

Some of the reports, however, are dated before Gallegos ordered the inventory last year in the wake of allegations of missing evidence.

"A lot of the evidence we are looking at is 30 years old," Gallegos said. "We are doing this inventory to properly account for what we have."

HEADLINE: DNA test delay baffles victim's daughter; Chicago, state cops blaming each other

LaShandra Moore wants to know if the killing of her mother in November on the city's Far South Side could have been prevented.

Moore, who last saw her mother, Ieline Myrick, 49, several weeks before she was strangled, wants to know why officials didn't do a DNA test earlier that could have taken the man charged with killing her as well as two other women off the streets sooner.

"If that murder could have been prevented, why couldn't they figure a way to do it?" Moore said. "If they could have done it, that man could have been off the streets way before then. They could have dealt with it better than they did." 

Illinois State Police and their Chicago counterparts have continued to disagree over how a delay in the testing of forensic evidence in the case of Vincent Hudson allegedly allowed him to claim Myrick as a third victim even after his DNA had been recovered months earlier.

A state police evidence-submission form shows Chicago police requested during the summer the testing of blood and DNA samples from the second victim of a man authorities have identified as Hudson, 32.

The document, dated July 17, indicates police requested that blood samples and vaginal swabs from the body of Valarie Crawford be tested by the Illinois State Police Crime Lab. The form shows the items were given inventory numbers, along with hair, nail clippings, clothing and a wig from the victim.

But additional forms reviewed by the Tribune also show those swabs were not immediately sent by Chicago police to the crime lab for testing. They were not signed for by state police investigators, the documents show, until December--the month after Myrick's body was found in the lot where Crawford's was recovered.

Chicago police spokesman David Bayless said police officers do not believe the crime lab asked for the physical evidence after receiving the request or looked at the case at all until November. The department continues to review the matter, Bayless added.

But State Police Sgt. Lincoln Hampton said testing began in December after Chicago police asked that the case be rushed and after finally delivering all of the material for examination.

Both sides agree, however, that if the system were running at maximum efficiency, it would have performed better and possibly led to the earlier arrest of Hudson.

Cook County prosecutors have said the case underscores the fact that a backlog in testing at the facility can sometimes mean it takes months or a year to get DNA evidence analyzed in murder cases. With more resources, the facility could review evidence in a timelier fashion, they contend, and begin to do such testing right away in all murder cases as a matter of routine.

But short of that, prosecutors have called for the crime lab to first handle requests for testing in new cases and then do analysis of the older cases.

Hampton said the state police value the input of the state's attorney's office, but he said the lab has a system in place that allows for maximum flexibility. Hampton said the lab uses a "triage method" that allows it to accept the most pressing cases and process older cases to meet court dates.

In the Hudson case, Chicago police appeared to ask for testing in July.

"Please work up ... blood card and establish a DNA profile for the victim," the first document supplied by police says. "Please examine all evidence for DNA ... if DNA is present compare to profile of victim. If evidence does not match victim please compare to listed suspects. If it doesn't match listed suspects please put into (state system)."

When the material finally was analyzed, it was compared with the state's database and matched Hudson, whose DNA profile already had been entered because of a rape conviction. He was identified Jan. 26 and arrested within 24 hours.

Hudson's case is the latest controversy to hit the crime lab.

After a story by the Tribune detailed that the crime lab had a backlog of more than 1,500 untested rape kits, Gov. Rod Blagojevich last year ordered state police officials to give lawmakers a yearly tally of the problem. Last month, they announced that last year's backlog had been reduced to 158 cases, but the figure did not include more than 1,200 cases that remain on Chicago police shelves.

The move angered state lawmakers and Sheri Mecklenburg, general counsel to Chicago Police Supt. Philip Cline. Mecklenburg also heads the Women's DNA Initiative, a private group trying to raise money to have the backlog reduced.

But in a recent letter to Mecklenburg, State Police Director Larry Trent put the blame on Chicago police for failing to turn over evidence in the past. The crime lab often has been "deluged" with new evidence found in Chicago police evidence vaults, Trent noted.

"We have worked diligently to address the backlog problems without ever questioning why aged evidence continues to be found in the Chicago Police Department. We have never pointed a finger asking how this problem continues," Trent wrote.

HEADLINE: APD Capt. Off Evidence Case

Internal Affairs boss ordered inquiry into allegations of damage, theft

An Albuquerque police captain who ordered an investigation into high-ranking members of the police department has been removed from his position overseeing the internal affairs unit.
Instead, the unit will report directly to the chief.

The investigation, which started about 10 days ago, involved allegations of wrongdoing at the department's evidence unit, said Capt. Ron Paiz, who still commands the division that had overseen internal affairs. 

"This just doesn't look good," Paiz said. "I don't know why I was removed. No explanation was given to me. When there is an allegation against any member of the department I prove them or disprove them. That is the only way we can maintain the integrity of the department. It doesn't matter if it is a patrolman or goes all the way up to the top. I don't discriminate."

An attorney for former evidence room commander Marie Miranda said in a letter earlier this week that she had reported various problems that she had uncovered to the chief and other command officers.

A department spokesman said the investigation had nothing to do with Paiz's removal.

APD has been wrestling with problems with the evidence unit for more than a year. This week, a police captain alleged that evidence from hundreds of drug cases was destroyed during a chemical cleanup.

In other developments Wednesday:

• Independent Review Officer Jay Rowland said he has volunteered to conduct an investigation into the accusations regarding evidence. He said he would look into allegations concerning high-ranking officers.

• Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White has asked Police Chief Gilbert Gallegos for an "immediate written accounting" of any evidence destroyed involving cases from his department.

• Several defense attorneys claimed the evidence destruction is going to "shake up" the criminal justice system.

• Three federal lawsuits alleging that APD has lost evidence are pending.

• Police officials disputed claims that homicide and rape cases were "compromised" by the chemical cleanup.

Paiz said he recently ordered an investigation into allegations by other police officers alleging wrongdoing by high-ranking department officials.

Gallegos was not available for comment Wednesday. He left for a trip to Washington D.C. and is expected to return Sunday.

Police spokesman Det. Jeff Arbogast said removing Paiz had nothing to do with the internal affairs investigation. Arbogast said the chief wanted to have whoever was in charge of internal affairs report directly to him.

"It's not unprecedented to have internal affairs to answer to the chief, and in fact it is a good practice," Arbogast said. "It allows him to be on top of what is going on."

Paiz said he was supposed to be notified Wednesday of the reason internal affairs was removed from his authority. He said the chief never got back with him, so he hired an attorney.

"I can't say that the investigation was the reason or wasn't," Paiz said. "But, it doesn't look good."

Paiz would not discuss specifics of the investigation but did say officers had come to his office and filed a complaint.

Chief Public Safety officer Nick Bakas defended Gallegos Wednesday, saying his administration has been trying to fix things at the evidence unit.

"It is this mayor, this chief and this administration that have been fixing things," Bakas said, "that (have) been cleaning things up and bringing the issues to light. And we are being accused of a cover?"

Anonymous memo

A year ago, an unsigned memo was sent to law enforcement officials alleging weapons, jewelry and cash were missing from the APD evidence room. That memo questioned APD's handling of the problems and charged that the department was trying to cover them up.

In response, Gallegos asked the Attorney General's Office to take over the investigation. The city also hired a private company to conduct an independent review of the evidence room's procedures.

AG officials couldn't say Wednesday when the investigation would be complete.

On Monday, an attorney representing Capt. Miranda sent a letter to Gallegos alleging that the cleanup of a hazardous chemical leak destroyed evidence from hundreds of drug cases. 
Evidence from homicide and sexual assault cases had also been "compromised," according to the letter.

Miranda was brought in to oversee the evidence room after the AG's investigation was under way. She headed the unit from last April through last month.

The leak occurred while she and her replacement were going through the transition.

In her letter, Miranda insisted that the department had an ethical obligation to notify the District Attorney's Office, which it apparently never did.

Several defense attorneys said Wednesday that the police department should have notified the District Attorney's Office and them.

"They just can't keep their heads in the sand and keep that information to themselves," said attorney Joseph Riggs. "We have cases that have been resolved every day with the assumption they have the evidence. This is going to make the prosecutor's job much harder, and it is going to make us want to actually see the evidence in every case."

Lawsuits filed

Three federal lawsuits have been filed by attorneys who claim APD lost property belonging to their clients. In all three cases, the attorneys are representing people who were never prosecuted.

In one case, Chris Jones' roommate was arrested by police in a domestic violence case. Police searched their apartment, broke open a safe and took $10,000 in cash he had just received from an insurance settlement, said Jones' attorney Jody Neal-Post.

Jones tried to get his money back, but the police department refused to turn it over, she said.
"We are big-time concerned," Neal-Post said. "This is confirming our suspicions that there are big, big problems."

The other lawsuits also involved cash not returned.

"It is ridiculous to have to file a federal lawsuit to get back $2,000," said attorney Ray Twohig, who represents two clients who have been trying to get property back from the evidence room.
Sheriff White also expressed concern over the destruction of evidence in a memo he wrote to Gallegos Wednesday. He said in an interview that he was also concerned that he was not immediately notified.

The sheriff's department stores evidence at the Metropolitan Forensic Science Center under an agreement with APD.

"As you can imagine, we are very concerned that the affected evidence may compromise the prosecution of these cases," White wrote. "Moreover, the potential for persons accused of crimes still being confined while the evidence to support their incarceration no longer exists."

Accusations denied

But Miranda's replacement, Capt. Larry Sonntag, said Wednesday that there was little truth to many of the accusations in the letter written by Miranda's attorney.

Sonntag said no evidence from homicide or rape cases was destroyed and that it is likely that many of the cases in which evidence was destroyed have already been adjudicated.

He also contended that the cases were not as recent as 2004, as the letter stated. He also disputed that city employees were getting ill because of the leak.

Sonntag said the leak was discovered in the first week of February when a brownish liquid was spotted near a plastic tub used to store evidence from methamphetamine cases.

Sonntag said he and Miranda contacted the city safety officer, who then hired a hazardous removal company to dispose of contaminated evidence.

"We were doing the right thing," Sonntag said. We were trying to protect our employees. "

Sonntag said he did not know if the unit notified the district attorney but that officers will review all of the cases in which evidence was destroyed.

He said much of the evidence involved would have been destroyed anyway because the cases had been adjudicated.

"The fact of the matter is, out of all of the thousands of pieces of evidence we have only one percent of those is questioned or used in court," Sonntag said. "That in itself limits the scope of the issue."

HEADLINE: Fired police officer to return to work

BYLINE: Loresha Wilson, ljwilson@gannett.com

A Shreveport police officer who was fired Dec. 14 for failing to turn in property he recovered from a vehicular burglary will go back on the city payroll later this month, the police chief said.

Wednesday, the Shreveport Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board chose not to uphold Police Chief Mike Campbell's decision to dismiss Cpl. James Dusty Herring for violating departmental rules and regulations. Instead, the board suspended Herring without pay for 90 days beginning Dec. 14. 

Herring will return to work immediately after his 90 days have lapsed, the police chief said Wednesday. Exactly when that will be will have to be determined today, Campbell said.

"I think that everyone deserves a second chance," said Leon Wheeler, who voted not to reinstate Herring. "I voted the way I did because all the rules were broken. But since I was overridden, I went on with the majority. I think he is going to make a fine police officer now that this is behind him."

Herring, 30, had worked for the Police Department more than eight years when he was terminated for failing to turn a digital camera and portable global-positioning system into the police property room in the wake of the Sept. 22 burglary.

"He failed to fill out a report," Assistant City Attorney Edward Jones said. "He failed to turn in the items. He lied to investigators. Officer Herring intentionally withheld evidence and misrepresented facts. ... The property had to be seized by the criminal division of the Shreveport Police Department 26 days later."

An Ellerbe Road Estates resident reported that the items were missing from his vehicle. About a week later, Byrom Day got word from a neighbor that one of two Shreveport police officers who'd responded to an incident in the area the same day had recovered his camera and GPS.

Day testified Wednesday that Sherry Wright, Herring's mother-in-law, was the one who informed the neighbor that her son-in-law had the items in his possession.

Wright told Herring who the items belonged to and how to reach the property owner. Wright testified that she'd asked Herring later if he'd returned the items and he said, "Not yet."

Day called the police property room at least twice to see if his belongings had been turned in. Officials had no record of the items.

On Oct. 18, police detectives searched Herring's take-home patrol car and found the camera and GPS on the floorboard of the passenger side of the vehicle, said Shanna Winn, lead detective in the case. Herring told detectives the items were on the floor of his car with the rest of his trash and that he'd forgotten to turn them in.

"The items remained in the patrol car, an extension of the Shreveport Police Department," Joe Clark, Herring's attorney, said. "The two items remained in the possession of the city of Shreveport.

"If Officer Herring intentionally stole the evidence, he would have been charged with theft or attempted theft. No charges were ever filed against Officer Herring."

Winn, who investigated the case as a theft, said she submitted a request that charges be filed against Herring but later was informed by the Caddo district attorney's office that "detectives who have lost videotapes of armed robberies were never prosecuted. And they were not going to prosecute an administrative violation."

Winn believes the actions of her former colleague were intentional. Herring lied about why he didn't enter the property into the system as being recovered, the detective said.

"He said his password had expired, but data-processing said that wasn't true. He simply did not run it in the system," Winn said.

HEADLINE: Chatham whistle-blower wins; A jury awards $102,000 to a former deputy fired after reporting drug thefts

PITTSBORO -- For four years, Dan Phillips was a fugitive from all that was familiar in his native Chatham County. Humiliated by a very public ousting from the sheriff's department, he retreated from life, defeated by losing his job for what he says was doing his job -- reporting wrongdoing.
He abandoned his hobbies and old haunts. When he wasn't ducking around town trying to avoid eye contact with neighbors and friends, he was on virtual house arrest in his Bennett home, a mortgage he paid with money borrowed from his elderly parents. 

On Wednesday, a jury awarded Phillips $102,000 in damages, finding that he was wrongly terminated as a sheriff's deputy. In an instant, the clouds overshadowing his life parted.

"I just wanted my name cleared and the truth to get out there," he said after the verdict. "Justice has come to Chatham County. I can walk around with my head held up now."

Phillips sued former sheriff Ike Gray for firing him in 2001, a move he contended was punishment because he had alerted the FBI about the theft of marijuana evidence from the old county landfill. He also contended that he was fired because of his attempt to expose racism in the county's schools. He said sheriff's officials suspected he had made a tape recording of a former Chatham Central High School principal using racial slurs. Phillips denies making the tape.

Gray said he fired Phillips for insubordination. Phillips became belligerent during an internal affairs investigation into the tape and threatened to sue the department, which, Gray said, were just grounds for terminating him.

But the jury found that Phillips was fired in retaliation for blowing the whistle on the marijuana theft. Jurors also found that Phillips was fired because of his attempts to speak out about racism at the high school. The jury found that Gray had acted corruptly and maliciously in firing Phillips.

Gray's attorney, Mark A. Davis, said he will probably appeal the verdict. Davis said Gray was being blamed for events that happened before Gray was sheriff and that he had no part in.

The county was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. If Gray loses on appeal, the money awarded by the jury would come out of his own pocket, according to Davis.

Davis said other sheriff's department and school officials should be held accountable for mishandling the drug and tape incidents.

"This case was not tried against Ike Gray but against some unfortunate things that happened in Chatham County, against people who were not in this courtroom," he said.

Phillips' lawsuit again put the spotlight on the county's high-profile marijuana thefts. About 4,000 pounds were stolen from a surplus Army truck parked behind the sheriff's office. An additional 1,000 pounds were later taken from the landfill. The drugs, which had a street value of $5 million, were seized in February 2000 during an undercover sting at a barn southwest of Siler City.

Juror James Harris said the jury believed plaintiff's attorney Al McSurely's argument that Phillips' firing was part of a countywide conspiracy to cover up wrongdoing in the sheriff's department and the schools.

Harris said Gray may have been manipulated into firing Phillips by others involved in a conspiracy that began before Gray was sheriff.

But he said the jury felt that Gray had numerous opportunities to end the cover-up at the sheriff department after he became sheriff.

"He could have threw up a red flag and said this is going to end now," Harris said. "He could have let the truth come out. We feel like with all the lies of the marijuana coming out, they needed a scapegoat."

Harris said the jury was struck by testimony showing that Gray had followed almost none of the standard procedures in terminating an employee and that he took the word of former chief deputy Randy Keck that Phillips was disrespectful and disloyal without giving Phillips a chance to be heard.

Harris said he thinks Phillips got angry during the meeting but said the jury did not believe Keck's version of events.

"He probably used a curse word or two," he said. "I cannot fault a man for that. You have to stand up for yourself. No one else is going to stand up for you."

HEADLINE: Defendant lawyer rebuffed -- Judge says jury can hear about statements to police

BYLINE: Chris Conley conley@commercialappeal.com

Federal prosecutors on Monday will begin trying to link a well-known Memphis lawyer, Memphis gang leaders, and thieves who looted the Memphis police evidence room of millions of dollars worth of cocaine.

U.S. Dist. Judge Bernice Donald on Friday rebuffed a last-ditch bid by the lawyer, Scott Crawford, to keep statements he made to police after his Feb. 29, 2004, arrest out of a jury's earshot. 

Crawford is charged in two separate indictments: One accuses him of using his law practice to launder money made from selling cocaine stolen from the evidence room.

Another charges him with trying to bribe a Memphis police officer, who was posing as a crooked cop, to fix criminal cases for money and set up a high-ranking gang member with crack cocaine and an illegal handgun.

Crawford is charged in that indictment with conspiracy, bribery, obstruction of justice, possession of crack cocaine and an illegal handgun.

Adding intrigue, Crawford was an appointed "special judge," filling in for absent General Sessions judges 161 times between 1998 and 2004.

The list of potential witnesses against Crawford is a veritable who's who of Memphis criminals.
Among them: Jeffrey Holliday, the former head of the Gangster Disciples; Eric Holley, identified as a leader of the Vice Lords; Kenneth Dansberry, a property and evidence room employee who told police he'd stolen so much cocaine he lost track, and Patrick Maxwell, a dealer who sold the stolen coke.

All four have pleaded guilty in federal court and agreed to testify against Crawford.

A jury was picked Thursday for the money laundering trial.

A second jury will hear the bribery trial.

Donald rejected Crawford's claim that he made incriminating statements to police and federal agents Feb. 29 only because he feared for his family's safety.

"Being a man of my word, if you tell me you're going to protect my family I'm going to give you a statement ad nauseam," Crawford testified Friday.

In the statement Crawford detailed his relationship with Holliday, whom he described as a friend and confidant.

Holliday had referred dozens of gang members to him as clients, Crawford said.
Holliday also convinced him it was safe to talk to Memphis police Lt. Jeff Clark about fixing cases for money.

Clark, posing as a crooked cop, taped Crawford discussing cases he wanted Clark to fix.
Crawford also discussed a plot to set up another gang leader with crack cocaine and an illegal pistol, according to the tapes.

Clark testified Friday about the day Crawford was arrested in the midst of one of those conversations.

"Now you know I'm not a dirty cop; you're just a dirty lawyer," Clark said he told Crawford.

HEADLINE: Missing pills trip up cop, Slidell chief says; Theft probe prompts arrest, resignation

An undercover narcotics agent with the Slidell Police Department was arrested Friday after he admitted stealing five ecstasy pills from an evidence room, Police Chief Freddy Drennan said.

Cpl. Richard J. Smith, 35, a six-year veteran described by the chief as having been "a good officer," was booked Friday afternoon with malfeasance in office, theft and narcotics possession. 

Slidell police began investigating Smith last week when a routine audit showed that five ecstasy pills were missing from a bag of 20 pills that Smith had signed out from the evidence room, Drennan said.

"He tried to disguise that the pills were missing by crushing some of the remaining pills, but when we weighed them, it was clear they weren't all there," Drennan said.

Smith had raised suspicions by signing out the pills to photograph them as evidence in a court case, even though another officer was handling the case, Drennan said. The pills had been repackaged when they were returned, raising another red flag, Drennan said.

The missing pills, which Smith claimed were for personal use, were recovered, Drennan said.
Smith resigned Thursday after learning he was under investigation.

He joined the Police Department in October 1998 and was assigned to the patrol division. In mid-2003, he was transferred to the narcotics division, where he often worked undercover, Drennan said.

"You can bet your bottom dollar that every narcotics case he ever worked will be looked at," Drennan said. "He indicated this is the only time he has done something like this, but we're obviously going to see for ourselves."

Drennan said no other police officers are targets in the probe.

Smith's arrest ended what had been a promising career in law enforcement, the chief said.

"He was a good officer," Drennan said. "Richie was a hard worker. He always came in on time and stayed late whenever we needed him to. He seemed to be progressing well, but something obviously caused him to stray."

Smith was being held Friday evening in the Slidell City Jail, awaiting transfer to the parish jail in Covington. The most serious charge he faces, malfeasance in office, is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

"We have bad police officers just like there are people who do bad things in any profession," Drennan said. "He has to stand up to the consequences of his crime just like John Doe Citizen would."
. . . . . . .
Paul Rioux can be reached at prioux@timespicayune.com or (985) 645-2852.

HEADLINE: Ex-evidence manager suspended

Police say the action is unrelated to investigations at the room

Confusion surrounding the Albuquerque Police Department evidence room increased with the suspension of a key figure in the investigation.

Clear, consistent details haven't been made public about what in the past few years has led to criminal and internal investigations of the room, and questions linger over why a former evidence room chief was put on administrative suspension Wednesday. 

Police Detective Jeff Arbogast said today Capt. Marie Miranda was suspended with pay Wednesday afternoon and will remain on leave until an investigation into possible violations of standard operating procedure is complete.

"It is not anything to do with the evidence room," Arbogast said.

But Miranda's lawyer, Rob Perry, said this morning that his client's suspension "surely smells suspicious."

A letter last week from Perry to Police Chief Gilbert Gallegos raised problems at the evidence warehouse during Miranda's time as manager there and stated Miranda made attempts to alert others about the problems.

Perry said he is concerned the suspension is retaliation against Miranda because she came forward about possible irregularities there.

He is considering legal action against the department.

Arbogast said the leave is not in response to Miranda's actions during her time at the evidence room. Miranda was transferred at her own request from the evidence room to a command position at the Foothills Substation in February, he said.

Capt. Larry Sonntag is now in charge of the evidence room. Sonntag was on duty when Perry's letter, alleging that hundreds of cases had been compromised due to a chemical spill in the room, became public.

Sonntag and Arbogast initially reported evidence from some completed cases had been destroyed because it had been corroded by meth lab chemicals in one storage bin. But in a news conference Monday, Gallegos and other police officers said that evidence from 235 cases had been contaminated and was destroyed. An investigation is under way to check the status of cases related to the evidence, they said.

An item-by-item inventory is being conducted of the entire evidence room as part of the department's effort to get back on track from 25 years of inefficient procedures, Sonntag said.
The Attorney General's Office has been investigating theft from the room since March 2004 and expects to publish a public report on the investigation in the spring, said Michael Cox of the office.

The Police Department has refused to release details from a contracted audit it provided to the Attorney General's Office at the onset of the investigation.

HEADLINE: Chiefs Say Politics Drive APD Critics

Top brass contend that evidence problems were inherited and are being fixed

Albuquerque's top police officials unloaded on their critics Thursday, saying that one outspoken captain had "baggage," another was "fishing around" for dirt and that much of the recent criticism is politically motivated.

They also criticized mayoral candidate Eric Griego, who has called for a City Council hearing into APD's handling of evidence room problems.

"Of course this is (Griego)," Nick Bakas, the city's chief public safety officer, said Thursday. "We are in the political season and the opportunity to garner publicity is not uncommon. He wouldn't be the exception." 

Bakas and Police Chief Gilbert Gallegos said they have inherited serious problems in APD's evidence room and have taken numerous steps to address them.

"The frustration is we've been working so hard, so diligent and doing so much... " Bakas said during a meeting with the Journal's editorial board. "What more humanly possible could we have done that we haven't done?"

Griego, responding to Bakas' comments, said he has never met the officers who recently came forward with problems in the evidence room.

"How can you say this is politically motivated when non-political people are raising this and people who bring this to light are rank-and-file officers?" Griego said.

"Stop trying to cover it up and let's talk about fixing it. If they can portray this as a political issue, they don't have to be held responsible."

Last week, a letter written by Rob Perry, an attorney representing Capt. Marie Miranda, was sent to Police Chief Gilbert Gallegos about hundreds of pieces of drug evidence that had been destroyed in a recent chemical leak. The letter also stated that she had previously brought problems in the evidence room to the chief's attention.

Since then, Miranda -- who oversaw the evidence room from April 2004 to February 2005 -- has been placed on administrative leave and is being investigated for violations of the department's standard operating procedures.

Gallegos said Thursday that, among other things, she was being investigated for airing complaints about department officials at a union meeting without having brought the complaints to him. In doing so, she failed to follow standard operating procedures.

Meanwhile, another captain who had opened an investigation into complaints about the evidence room and into several "high ranking" members of the department had the internal affairs division taken away from his command.

Bakas on Thursday contended the captain was using internal affairs files to look for dirt on individuals.

Problems in the evidence room first surfaced in internal audits several years ago. Someone later circulated an anonymous memo claiming a cover-up, three federal lawsuits have been filed and two evidence room employees were transferred and later fired, with a third transferred and working elsewhere in the department. Gallegos also called in the attorney general to conduct an independent criminal investigation.

APD officials have said they hadn't found any criminal cases that were compromised by the methamphetamine leak mentioned in the letter on behalf of Miranda.

Miranda took command of APD's evidence room in April 2004 when it was already under heavy scrutiny because of missing evidence and allegations of other problems.

"We put her (Miranda) in the evidence room to clean it up," Bakas said. "She was the commander. The person in charge of taking care of the problem."

Miranda took over the evidence room after leaving the New Mexico Department of Public Safety. Prior to that she had spent several years as an Albuquerque police officer.

Bakas said that when Miranda came back to APD, she came in with a lot of "baggage." He would not go into specifics.

But he said the issues are the same "that we have experienced here. The SOP applies to everyone else except her."

He also said that she was transferred out of the evidence room at her request, and was given the "plum assignment" of overseeing the Foothills area command.

Perry said Thursday that Bakas' comments were almost "laughable."

He said his client tried to fix things at the evidence room, told her superiors about the problems and was ordered by a deputy chief "to keep her mouth shut."

"The prevailing thought in the chief's office was what people don't know won't hurt them," Perry said. "When you lose evidence in 235 drug cases, you don't tell anybody that is really a problem. They are trying to make excuses to sell to the mayor."

After Perry's letter surfaced, Capt. Ron Paiz, who had recently ordered an investigation into problems in the evidence room and into "high ranking" members of the department, had internal affairs removed from his responsibility.

Bakas said internal affairs was removed from Paiz's authority because he was going through the unit's files "to get mud and names and slander individuals.

"Internal affairs files are not a fishing hole for someone to go on a fishing trip," Bakas said. "How does going through an internal affairs file have anything in God's green earth to do with the investigation in the evidence room? This was a frolic of his own he had no business doing."

Bakas also said that he was "disappointed" that the AG's investigation into the department's evidence room has taken more than a year. He said he expected criminal indictments to be handed down.

"But we can't put a gun to (the attorney general's) head. They say, 'We need more time.' Sure we would have loved the investigation months ago, but the reality is we don't have it."

The Attorney General's Office this week said it has finished the investigation but is still reviewing the results.

Gallegos said Thursday that despite the recent criticism, he is still trying to clean things up at the evidence room. Many of the problems that have recently come to light, he said, stem from previous administrations.

Since he learned of the problem, he noted that he has hired an outside company to look at evidence room procedures, restructured the command system at the evidence room and ordered his officers to conduct a massive inventory. The department has installed a new computer system that Gallegos said is much more secure. He also has asked for money to hire an expert in property inventory, and is hiring an outside company to conduct yet another audit and another consultant to conduct an internal investigation.

"Audits had been issued before my administration outlining these problems, but guess what, not a damn thing was done," Gallegos said. "When this came to me, that's when I decided that there was something we needed to do, and we were not going to sit back and wait for another report."

HEADLINE: Evidence Room Can't Find Murder-Case Gun

A gun from a murder case that is supposed to go to trial soon is missing from the Albuquerque police evidence room, authorities said.

Police officials said they are doing everything they can to locate the weapon. Officials would not name the exact case. 

"It is too early to say this is lost or if it could affect the outcome of the case," Albuquerque police spokesman Jeff Arbogast said. "We can't say anything definite at this point."

The sheriff's office, which investigated the homicide, has sent detectives to the evidence room to help city police officials find the handgun. The sheriff's office has an agreement with the city to handle its evidence.

Sheriff's officials said the evidence room had recently been asked to gather the evidence for trial. When they did, everything was there but one gun.

"Any loss of evidence jeopardizes a case, regardless of what kind," said Capt. Russell Blaschke of the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office. "This was a pretty critical piece of evidence. We are going to exhaust all efforts to find it."

Meanwhile, Sheriff Darren White said four drug cases from his department that are still pending in court included evidence destroyed in a recent chemical leak in the evidence room.

He said he was "disappointed" that he was not notified by APD about the destroyed evidence in those cases until the leak was made public in the media.

"My fear is, had this not been made public in the newspaper we may never have learned (of it) and that is not the way we do business," White said. "There is no excuse I can think of for why we were never notified."

Albuquerque Police Chief Gilbert Gallegos said Thursday that his officers at first were not aware that evidence was destroyed in sheriff's department cases in the leak. When they did realize it, he said they notified the sheriff's office.

APD officials said they have yet to find any cases that have been compromised due to the leak, which occurred early last month when chemicals used to make methamphetamine leaked and contaminated other evidence.

Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg said Thursday that her office is reviewing all 235 cases in which evidence was destroyed and she estimates about 20 cases are still open.

Her office has not finished evaluating all of the cases, but she doesn't expect the number of pending cases to go much higher.

Of the cases that are still open, Brandenburg said her office is reviewing them on a "case by case" basis to determine how vital the evidence was. She said her office plans to notify the defense attorneys.

Brandenburg also said she was aware of the missing gun in the homicide case. However, she said there were multiple weapons involved in the slaying and her office is trying to determine the "significance" of the missing gun.

"Of course there is concern on our part," Brandenburg said. "This was an issue we wish hadn't come up, but it has and we have to deal with it."

HEADLINE: TODAY'S EDITORIAL

What is going on in the Albuquerque Police Department? Please? Anybody?

It's time for Albuquerque to find out, one way or the other, and then fix it. And this doesn't just refer to the problems in the department's evidence room, though that would be an excellent place to start. 

Because the public doesn't seem to be getting straight answers from Police Chief Gil Gallegos but does seem to get contradictory and disconcerting messages from others along the chain of command, it's time to throw the doors wide open, let the sun shine in and allow the evidence to speak.

Waiting for a verdict from the external investigation by the New Mexico Attorney General's Office is no longer an option.

Where, for example, is Mayor Martin Chavez? He has made public safety one of his major issues, but he quietly sits by.

Meanwhile, the guy who wants Chavez's job, City Councilor Eric Griego, has called for council hearings. A majority of councilors appear to favor that step.

The last thing the city, APD or the council need is to politicize whatever is going on in the Police Department. But the frustration level clearly is rising, and the councilors likely are reflecting their constituents' unease.

Chavez and the council should provide Albuquerque citizens and taxpayers with some concrete, believable answers before the Police Department loses credibility. That is what's at stake, and if the city's Police Department lacks credibility, the city is in trouble in the force, in the courts and on the street.

The heart of the latest problem is the evidence room, which recently was seriously compromised. How did something that should never happen, happen? It's alarming for obvious reasons, including the effect on prosecuting cases, if evidence is missing or compromised,
Chief Gallegos and others seem to just be blaming predecessors, suggesting quick fixes with personnel changes, acting as if it's all under control even while contradicting or reprimanding officers who say otherwise and appearing to block an internal affairs investigation.

In the most recent development, Chief Gallegos disciplined the officer who originally was assigned to fix previous evidence-room fiascoes and who has charged in classic whistle-blower fashion that hundreds of criminal cases have been compromised by the destruction of evidence in the department's evidence room.

That officer, according to her attorney, has been ordered by the department not to talk to the media. Why?

This isn't rocket science. This is as basic a whodunit as it gets. If APD can't figure out what's going on within its own walls, how can we trust it to do the same out on the street?

Chief Gallegos was appointed by Mayor Chavez. The department's problems are Gallegos' and Chavez's.

It's time for one or both of them to step up and tell Albuquerque citizens what the heck is going on in the Police Department. And it would be nice if one or both of them would say exactly how they intend to fix it.

If they can't, the council should do so.

HEADLINE: KEY PLAYERS IN EVIDENCE-ROOM INVESTIGATION

Capt. Larry Sonntag
Sonntag took over command of the evidence unit from Capt. Marie Miranda in February. In October, Sonntag, as commander of APD's Inspection and Accreditation Unit, wrote to Chief Gilbert Gallegos claiming APD's leadership may have allowed employees to destroy evidence of wrongdoing in order to avoid criminal prosecution. Sonntag says the evidence room is being cleaned up and problems are being addressed. 

Capt. Marie Miranda
Miranda was put in charge of the evidence unit last summer after Chief Gilbert Gallegos asked the Attorney General's Office to investigate allegations of evidence theft. In February, Miranda was transferred to the Foothills area command. On March 7, her attorney sent a letter to Gallegos claiming cleanup of a hazardous chemical leak destroyed evidence in hundreds of drug cases. It also said Miranda had previously reported problems to the chief and the command structure. On Wednesday, Miranda was placed on paid administrative leave for allegedly violating standard operating procedures. APD administration says the action is not retaliation.

Sgt. Cynthia Orr
Orr, who directly oversees the evidence room, said Chief Gilbert Gallegos lied, covered up and has done nothing about thefts inside the unit despite repeated warnings. Orr said she warned Gallegos about illegal activity in the evidence room six months before the Attorney General's Office was asked to investigate in March 2004.

Chief Gilbert Gallegos
Gallegos said he inherited serious problems in the evidence room and the department has taken steps to address them. Last March, Gallegos asked the Attorney General's Office to investigate allegations of evidence theft and to examine the department's internal investigation. The department also hired an independent firm to examine the evidence room procedures.

Chief Public Safety Officer, Nick Bakas
Bakas said the department is working diligently to address the evidence room situation. He said allegations of wrongdoing in the evidence room and criticism of the department's handling of its own internal investigation are politically motivated.

Capt. Ron Paiz
Ten days after Paiz ordered an investigation into high-ranking members of APD involving allegations at the evidence unit, he was removed from overseeing the internal affairs unit. Administration says the action had nothing to do with the investigation.

Bernalillo County Sheriff
Because his department houses its evidence at APD's evidence unit, White has asked Chief Gilbert Gallegos to provide him with a written account of any evidence from county cases that could have been damaged during cleanup of a chemical leak in February. White said he was disappointed he was not notified about destruction of evidence until the problem was made public in the media.

HEADLINE: APD Locates Missing Gun

After searching for hours, Albuquerque police evidence room employees found a gun Friday that had been missing.

The weapon is evidence in a Bernalillo County homicide case that is set to go to trial soon.
APD officials said they couldn't immediately find the gun because the computerized system indicated the gun was in a location that doesn't exist. 

Several technicians spent hours in a vault looking for the weapon, and the gun was found in one of the last areas they were checking, police officials said. Police don't believe the evidence was compromised.

The gun was in its original package and sealed, said APD Capt. Larry Sonntag, who oversees the evidence unit.

"Finding this was a complete success and shows that the new system is working and things are getting better," Sonntag said. "This could very well happen again, but when things are not immediately located, we are going to look for it and notify everyone."

The missing gun came at a time when the evidence room is under scrutiny. The state Attorney General's Office has been conducting a criminal investigation into the evidence room since March 2004. The state agency is investigating allegations that evidence has been stolen. A chemical leak in February destroyed evidence from more than 200 cases. APD officials maintain none of the cases have been compromised.

There have also been several audits of the room.

At the time the gun came up missing earlier in the week, police officials were conducting an inventory of the gun vault. Police officials said they are trying to tag every weapon in a new system that will help them keep better track of the weapons.

"Under the new system, the likelihood of this happening again is very remote," said Sgt. Cynthia Orr, who oversaw the evidence room. "It was like finding a needle in a hay stack."

The gun was used in a homicide case from 2001. Officials said there were other weapons used in the killing.

The gun came up missing when police officials were asked earlier in the week to get evidence ready for trial.

HEADLINE: 'They Have Lied….

Evidence-Room Supervisor Claims Cover-Up; APD Chief Says Not True, He's Been Open

In the wake of recent news coverage of problems at APD's evidence unit, the department's top brass invited a Journal reporter and photographer to tour the evidence room on Friday.

Chief Public Safety Officer Nick Bakas and Police Chief Gilbert Gallegos said in an interview Thursday, when extending the invitation, that they wanted to be "transparent" and had nothing to hide.

During Friday's tour, acting Sgt. Cynthia Orr was reluctant to answer some questions. Following the tour, she asked her supervisor, Capt. Larry Sonntag, if she could speak openly. 

He told her the department wanted them to be open and honest.

She invited a reporter into her office and agreed to be tape-recorded.

"This is probably going to end my career," she said.

Orr sat down, took a deep breath, and began to talk.

The sergeant who directly oversees the Albuquerque police evidence room said Friday that Chief Gilbert Gallegos lied to the public, covered up reported wrongdoings and failed to act despite repeated warnings of evidence theft.

Sgt. Cynthia Orr said Gallegos didn't ask for an outside criminal investigation of the evidence room until six months after she told him of the thefts and other problems, and after the media got a hold of an anonymous e-mail claiming a cover-up.

She said she uncovered the problems in August 2003 when she was an investigator who conducted inspections of various units for the department.

She was moved to the evidence room in December but said Friday was her last day because she requested a transfer back to her previous position.

"The only reason I am saying something is because I have had enough," Orr said Friday. "If it is a career-ender, it is a career-ender, but I have had enough. This chief and his deputy chiefs have covered it (problems in the evidence room) up. They have lied about it. They have misled the public."

Gallegos denied that he has misled the public or tried to cover anything up.

"When you are trying to hide something, you don't ask for an independent review," Gallegos said. "We have been very up front and open about all of this."

The evidence room has had problems for years. Gallegos said he inherited those problems and has moved to address them.

Others inside the department say he has not moved quickly enough, according to memos obtained by the Journal.

Investigation 'a joke'

Orr said that, in August 2003, she identified two people she believed were stealing in the evidence room, but Gallegos allowed them to continue to work there. She contended that enabled them to destroy evidence that would have proven their guilt.

Orr said she doesn't know why the chief didn't act but said he frequently had lunch with one of the two. "What that infers or means ... I don't know."

And the chief's action to bring in an outside inspector "was all a joke," Orr said.

Gallegos said he never had a friendship with one of the accused or had lunch with her.

He also said he has acted on many of Orr's recommendations.

Orr said she made her first reports to the chief as a detective assigned to the inspections and accreditation division. Her assignment was to conduct surprise inspections on Albuquerque police units to see if they followed guidelines.

She said she discovered problems in the evidence room during one of her inspections in July 2003. A few weeks later, she reported her findings to the chief, including that she discovered thefts from the evidence room.

The thefts occurred when property went to auction. She noticed that the list of property taken out of the evidence room was longer than the list of property the auctioneer received.

"Stuff was walking out the door," she said.

Among the items missing were guns, drugs and jewelry.

She said $7,000 in coins that were supposed to be auctioned off never made it to the auctioneer.

"The chief could have responded immediately the day I went up to him and said you have a theft problem. We should have brought a team down here and shut them down and had everyone removed administratively and immediately start(ed) an audit," Orr said.

"Am I implicating the chief is assisting to do this cover-up? Absolutely. Do I know this is a dangerous accusation to make? Absolutely. But I know this is something that needs to be done."

'Get them out'

Seven months later, in March 2004, an anonymous memo surfaced, claiming that guns, weapons, drugs and cash had been missing from the evidence room and that the administration was conducting a cover-up.

Orr said the memo outlined facts she had been telling the chief for months but she was not the author of the memo.

She also said that the day before the memo surfaced, Gallegos told her a criminal investigation would not be conducted.

After the memo was reported in the Journal, Gallegos had a news conference announcing he had asked the Attorney General's Office to investigate the allegations.

He also announced he had hired a company to conduct an independent forensic audit of the evidence room.

Orr said the audit was a "joke" and did not do a thorough job.

As for the AG's investigation, Orr said she doubts any indictments will be handed up.

"The AG's investigation is hindered, in my opinion, because they (police officials) left them (two accused employees) in here for six months," Orr said. They were removed from the unit early last year.

"Records got destroyed. They are just gone. The system got altered. Things are just missing. I told him (Gallegos) they are altering the records, get them out. Get them out. Get them out."

As months went by, Orr said no one ever started an actual inventory of the evidence room despite her repeated recommendations. It didn't start until December 2004, nine months after the anonymous memo surfaced and after she volunteered to take the position at the evidence room to try to fix things up.

Now that an inventory is being done, Orr said things are getting better and the people who work there now are hard-working and conscientious. They are tired of the negative press and feel they are getting blamed.

She said Capt. Larry Sonntag, who oversees evidence and forensics, "is a good cop and the people on the streets are good cops.

"He's in an awful position. I think he's going to do a good job if they give him the reins to do what he needs to do. Will they do that? No."

'Why are we hiding this?'

Orr said employees filled out police reports whenever they came across evidence that was untagged or unaccounted for. She said she was later told not to send the reports to the records division by a deputy chief because "they didn't want it to become public record that things are missing."

"But my conscience got over me and I sent them down. I asked them 'why are we hiding this?' I told them we needed to contact the DA and tell them what was happening with the evidence."
Those reports were later obtained by the Journal.

Orr said another problem in the evidence room was that officers under unrelated criminal investigations for such things as DWI or domestic violence were allowed to work in the evidence room.

"I told them (the administration) it was ludicrous," she said. "Why would you put someone who is under criminal investigation in a position where they can oversee the evidence in their own criminal case?

"It took months and months and pleading and pleading and documentation after documentation saying you don't do this. You don't. You don't do this."

Gallegos said that when someone was under investigation, rather than simply letting them have a paid vacation, he wanted to put them to work.

The practice of putting them in the evidence room has stopped.

'trying to shut me up'

Orr isn't the only police officer who has spoken up in recent weeks about problems in the evidence room.

Last week, an attorney representing Capt. Marie Miranda, who oversaw the evidence room from April 2004 to February 2005, wrote to the chief claiming that hundreds of pieces of drug evidence had been destroyed in a recent methamphetamine leak.

The letter also said Miranda had previously reported problems to the chief and others in the command structure.

Miranda was Orr's supervisor in the evidence room until she was transferred in February. She has since been placed on administrative leave.

Gallegos said the department is investigating her for possible violations of standard operating procedures.

Orr defended Miranda, saying Miranda had tried to clean up the mess in the evidence room and told Gallegos of the problems.

Since Miranda's letter, five city councilors have said they want to look into problems at the evidence room.

Ron Paiz, another captain who had opened an internal affairs investigation into the evidence room and into several high-ranking members of the department, had the internal affairs unit removed from his authority.

Gallegos has contended that much of the criticism is politically motivated.

Orr insisted she has no political connections.

"I am a simple detective, that is it. I am the rank and file. I am not going to make chief. I'm not going to be mayor."

Orr said she was concerned about fallout from her comments.

"Do I think I am going to be retaliated against? Absolutely," she said. "They have been trying to shut me up for months because I desperately want the criminal investigation to succeed, and it is not going well. The AG has said that the indictments they would have had, should have had, are not going to be there and they are attributing it to that six months' window they had to destroy things.

"Things are getting better now because it is in front of the public. It is the only time the department reacts. Yeah, we allowed this to go on and it is a crying shame and shame on us, but we owe it to the DA's office, the victims and the public some accountability."

'We had no proof'

Gallegos said he couldn't immediately remove the employees who were suspected of stealing from the evidence room because it would have been premature. Those employees were transferred out just before the AG started the criminal investigation.

The two have since been fired for unrelated issues.

Gallegos also said the AG is investigating whether those employees destroyed documents that would have implicated them. The chief said those employees did have their access restricted to certain areas of the evidence room.

"There were strong indications that they were involved, but we had no proof," Gallegos said. "You can't arbitrarily transfer somebody just because you think they are doing something wrong."

The chief said he didn't know anything about Orr's claims of being ordered not to file police reports. He said Orr got involved with the evidence situation when he ordered her to do the surprise audit and then he acted on her recommendations.

He also said that it took awhile to get the inventory started because the computer technology wasn't in place to get it going.

HEADLINE: Independent APD Review Called For

The Albuquerque Police Oversight Commission wants all allegations and complaints against senior APD officials -- including the evidence room scandal -- to be investigated by the city's top police watchdog.

"We believe we are the appropriate agency to investigate any complaints against captains and above," Independent Review Officer Jay Rowland said.

The seven-member citizen commission on Friday sent a letter to APD Chief Gilbert Gallegos, recommending he change the department's standard operating procedures to expand the Independent Review Office's purview. 

As it is, the IRO investigates only citizen complaints against officers and police shooting cases, then reports to the commission.

Gallegos said Friday the commission doesn't need to get involved in the matter because the state Attorney General's Office is already investigating the evidence room, and the department is planning to hire an independent firm to conduct an internal investigation.

Last year, an anonymous memo surfaced, alleging that guns, drugs, cash and other evidence had been stolen from the evidence room. Last month, cleanup of a chemical leak in the room caused the destruction of numerous pieces of evidence in more than 200 drug cases.

And APD's own investigation into the evidence room has been criticized from within the department.

"The citizens of Albuquerque need these allegations and any other allegations against the chief or his senior staff to be investigated by an independent investigator that is outside APD and reviewed by the citizen oversight system," the letter to Gallegos states. "This system is designed to be outside the reach of politics and has been."

Gallegos said Rowland and the POC stepping in would undermine the work of the state AG's Office, which was has been investigating the evidence room for a year.

"We have a professional that is going to be doing the internal investigation, and the AG is doing the criminal investigation," Gallegos said. "They are perfectly capable of doing a professional investigation, and for us to think that they are not capable of that is very shortsighted."

Rowland said he doesn't expect Gallegos to heed the letter's recommendation. But he said he plans to look at the AG's and the internal investigators' findings.

Rowland said he will discuss those findings with Gallegos and report to the commission whether he thinks the investigations were fair and impartial.

Michael Cook, newly elected commission chairman, said the decision to enter the fray comes now because "this is the first time it's really come before us."

Cook said the Independent Review Office could investigate the evidence room, but he would also support another entity doing so as long as it's independent from APD.

HEADLINE: Former DEA worker gets house arrest for theft of $108G

BYLINE: TIMOTHY O'CONNOR

A former Drug Enforcement Administration office worker was sentenced to six months' house arrest and three years' probation for stealing more than $100,000 from an evidence room.

Dina Marie D'Iorio of Yorktown, 38, was charged Sept. 20 with stealing the money from the Westchester County DEA Task Force offices at 140 Grand St. in White Plains. She had been assigned to the task force for her entire 14-year career.

The money was seized during a Sept. 2 drug raid, DEA officials said. So much money was seized that one bag could barely contain it all, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in White Plains. The money was placed in a non-narcotics evidence room that was secured by a combination lock and alarm system.

But the room was left open for a computer worker, according to the complaint. D'Iorio had sole access to the unlocked room for about 30 minutes, according to the complaint.

Over the Labor Day weekend, D'Iorio returned to the DEA offices even though she was not scheduled to work. She was in and out again in the early morning hours of Sept. 8, a scheduled day off for her.

A task force sergeant reported the missing money to his superiors. The Justice Department's Inspector General's Office investigated, along with the DEA's Office of Professional Responsibility and the county police Special Investigations Unit.

When questioned by investigators, D'Iorio at first denied involvement. But she eventually admitted the theft and led investigators to the stolen money in her apartment on Sept. 17.

She pleaded guilty Dec. 1 to one count of theft of government funds, admitting that she stole $108,760.

U.S. District Judge Stephen C. Robinson sentenced D'Iorio.

HEADLINE: Albuquerque mayor pledges action after investigation finishes

Mayor Martin Chavez has vowed to make changes because of problems with the Albuquerque Police Department's evidence unit, but said he probably won't take action until after the results of a criminal investigation.

"Heads are going to roll," he said Saturday. "I am tired of this situation, and I am in no mood for excuses, and I don't want to see anymore."

Chavez said he will wait, however, because he does not want to jeopardize an investigation by the state attorney general's office.

Sam Thompson, a spokeswoman for the attorney general, said earlier this month that two reports - one to the police department and a public one - will be issued in the months to come. She would not say if indictments were likely.

The department's evidence room has been under scrutiny for about a year because of missing evidence and allegations of other problems. Internal audits have been done, an anonymous memo claiming a cover up has surfaced, three federal lawsuits have been filed, two employees have been fired and the attorney general opened its investigation.

Police and the district attorney's office have said they have yet to find a criminal case that has been compromised or dismissed due to the department's inability to produce evidence.

Police Chief Gil Gallegos has denied any cover up. He said he inherited problems with the evidence room when he became chief and has taken steps to address them.

Chavez, asked about Gallegos' future, said: "I will make that decision when all of the information is in front of me. "I know Gil to be an individual of outstanding integrity. I have no question that he wants to do the right thing. But one of the questions I have is whether or not the appropriate action was taken in a timely fashion."

HEADLINE: Mayor: Heads Will Roll, Chavez Fed Up With Evidence Room Mess

Heads are going to roll because of problems with the Albuquerque police evidence unit, Mayor Martin Chavez said Saturday.

Whose head and when?

Chavez said he will probably wait until the state Attorney General's Office completes its criminal investigation of APD's evidence room before making any announcements. 

"No question changes are going to be made," Chavez said in a telephone interview with the Journal. "I am chiefly concerned about what I am reading. Heads are going to roll. I am tired of this situation, and I am in no mood for excuses, and I don't want to see any more."

In a lengthy interview with the Journal on Friday, APD Sgt. Cynthia Orr, who worked in the evidence room from January until Friday, said Chief Gilbert Gallegos has lied about and attempted to cover up problems at the evidence unit.

She said that she told the chief in August 2003 about theft of evidence but that the chief did not ask for an independent investigation by the AG's Office until March 2004. That was a day after the Journal wrote about an anonymous memo describing problems in the evidence room and claiming a cover-up by APD brass.

Orr contended the chief allowed two evidence-room employees suspected of stealing weapons, money and jewelry to continue working in the evidence room for six months after allegations against them surfaced. The delay allowed them to destroy evidence that may have proven their guilt, she said.

Gallegos has denied any type of cover-up. He said he inherited the problems at the evidence room and has taken steps to address the issue. He said his administration has been upfront and open from the beginning.

He also said he restricted the two employees' access but could not remove them because there was not sufficient evidence at the time.

The two were later transferred and eventually fired for other reasons.

Orr's comments came less than two weeks after an attorney for the former commander of the evidence room sent Gallegos a letter describing a chemical leak and cleanup that destroyed evidence in hundreds of drug cases.

In that letter, attorney Rob Perry said his client, Capt. Marie Miranda, had notified the chief previously of the cleanup.

The evidence room was already under scrutiny. Along with the AG's investigation, three federal lawsuits have been filed.

When asked about Gallegos' future, Chavez said, "In my administration, everyone's neck is ... on the chopping block on a daily basis.

"I will make that decision when all of the information is in front of me. I know Gil to be an individual of outstanding integrity. I have no question that he wants to do the right thing. But one of the questions I have is whether or not the appropriate action was taken in a timely fashion."

Chavez said he will wait to take action because he doesn't want to compromise the AG's investigation by "word or deed."

"It is really frustrating because a key part of this has to come from the AG's office," he said. "I am not one to wait on other people, but I have to respect the criminal investigation."

Chavez also said that, after reading about Orr's claims in Saturday's Journal, he called AG officials and U.S. Attorney David Iglesias.

He said he will meet with Iglesias this week to determine whether federal investigators should start an inquiry into the evidence room.

The AG has said it has completed its investigation and is reviewing it. It says a report will be released "in months."

Chavez said he is encouraged that, so far, no criminal cases appear to have been compromised despite problems in the evidence room. He also said he believes the evidence room is on the right track.

He said he is concerned about when the administration took action and why the department wasn't more open with the public.

He said he has talked to Gallegos about recent allegations.

"The police department has to be squeaky clean," Chavez said. "Gil has concern about morale, but my concerns are broader.

"I have a great police department with wonderful officers, and if it has a problem, the buck stops here."

HEADLINE: Ex-mayor: We had evidence in control

Jim Baca says allegations that troubles predated the current administration are "infuriating."

Officials are trying to shift at least part of the blame for irregularities in the Albuquerque Police Department evidence room to prior administrations, but former Mayor Jim Baca isn't having any of it.

Baca said allegations the problems predate the current administration are "infuriating."

Evidence room officers have said a variety of problems have existed in the agency, including thefts and a cover-up of mismanagement. 

Problems have come to light in news reports in past weeks, and Mayor Martin Chavez has vowed to fix the problem.

Baca said Sunday the evidence room ran smoothly during his term from 1998-2002.

"I don't remember when I was mayor seeing any great discrepancies in the evidence room," Baca said. "It was never really a big item.

"Chief (Gerald) Galvin was pretty good. He had things under control, and it just didn't come up to my level."

Police Capt. Larry Sonntag, who is in charge of the evidence room, said inefficient procedures have been in place for nearly 25 years, allowing evidence to stack up and make today's inventory difficult.

Councilor Eric Griego, who will run for mayor this fall, said even if Chavez and his police chief, Gilbert Gallegos, did inherit problems, their 3 1/2 years in office was plenty of time to fix them.

On Sunday, Chavez, who served a four-year term as mayor before Baca, said the evidence room has had long-standing procedural issues but has made significant progress. Still, he left open the possibility there might be a few "bad apples" he intends to pluck from its operation.

"I'm the adult here. I have to fix something if there is a problem," Chavez said.

But before anyone is fired, Chavez said, he is waiting to read a report due out in the next few months from the state Attorney General's Office detailing its investigation into allegations of criminal activity at the evidence room. The investigation began in March 2004.

Chavez, Gallegos and the city's chief public safety officer, Nick Bakas, have each said they invited the Attorney General's Office to assist in straightening out the evidence room.

Chavez said he has also invited U.S. Attorney David Iglesias to look into the problems.

Chavez said he decided to call in the U.S. Attorney's Office after the Albuquerque Journal reported on Saturday that Sgt. Cynthia Orr said she was directed to not file reports on missing evidence.

"This is very serious matter, and if the Department of Justice sees fit to do an investigation that would be good," Chavez said.

The state Attorney General's Office's investigation also looked into how the Police Department handled its internal investigation on the evidence room in 2003.

Internal audits that year cited 10 areas the department needed to address to increase the security of money, drug and gun evidence.

Orr and former evidence room Capt. Marie Miranda allege their higher-ups, including Gallegos, covered up wrongdoings.

Miranda, who with her lawyer last month released a letter to the chief addressing her concerns, was recently put on administrative leave. Detective Jeff Arbogast said the action was taken because she is being investigated for violating standard operating procedures at her new command post.

Chavez said no one is being retaliated against. He said Orr spoke with the full blessing of Gallegos. "That was specifically from the direct permission and encouragement from the chief. He is an honorable man with unquestionable integrity," Chavez said.

The employees at the evidence room also drew his praise. Orr, too, told the Journal positive changes have been made at the room and that the current employees there are responsible.

All the more reason to wait for the attorney general's report, Councilor Craig Loy said.

"We need that report," Loy said, assuring his constituents "this will be cleaned up."

Loy, a former Albuquerque police officer, said a lot of the problems were inherited, but he said wherever they came from and whatever they are, they need to be quickly addressed.

"APD is a very fine organization, and public opinion is very important," Loy said.

"I do not agree that there is a cover-up," he said.

HEADLINE: There's a legal way for dope to go up in smoke; Police are supposed to burn confiscated narcotics at an approved incinerator, including one in Tacoma. Apparently, some still use a burn barrel out back.

Once or twice a year, the Pierce County Sheriff's Department rings up Simpson Tacoma Kraft mill and sets up a time to burn its drugs.

Depending on the amount, a van load or two of boxed narcotics no longer needed for evidence is driven with armed guards to the Tideflats mill complex.

There, sheriff's agents pop the stuff through a one-foot-square opening into a wood-waste furnace burning at 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.

The drugs vaporize, and no dangerous fumes come out of the stack, company and state officials say. 

"It's a well-planned operation," Pierce County Detective Ed Troyer said. "We don't just let the office assistant drive a van down there."

Burning confiscated narcotics has been a little-known part of the Tacoma mill's operations for two or three years. Lakewood and Puyallup are among the other departments that have agreements with Simpson. Tacoma police send their drugs to the Pierce County sheriff's department for disposal at the local mill, too.

It is a task some police agencies don't want to discuss in detail. Neither do the few companies that run state-approved furnaces. It's a public service, and they're concerned about stigmas and security.

But the issue is important for some Seattle-area officers who began efforts several years ago to ensure proper disposal of narcotics in Western Washington.

Some smaller police agencies still might take them to a burn barrel out back or flush small quantities down the toilet. Others might leave them in their evidence rooms, sometimes for years, where they might be at risk of disappearing.

"I know one agency that still burns the drugs in a barrel," said Kelly Donnelly, an evidence officer in Mercer Island who's been working with others to address such problems.

She declined to name the police agency, but added, "When I told them they shouldn't, they said the barrel cost money and they were going to use it."

Burning drugs in the station's back yard can be unsafe as well as illegal. The fire isn't hot enough or properly filtered to eliminate dangerous emissions.

Moreover, burning anything in a barrel is illegal in Washington, according to the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency.

"We're supposed to be the law keepers," said Susan Holaday, a 10-year Tukwila police evidence officer who's worked with Donnelly and others. "If we can't follow the law ourselves, it hurts our credibility."

The state Department of Ecology has notified the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs that state-approved incinerators are where dangerous narcotics should be destroyed. Ty Thomas, a hazardous waste supervisor, said it's possible some smaller agencies aren't complying, but he has no evidence, only hearsay.

State authorities don't track compliance agency-by-agency but expect them to follow the rules, Thomas said.

Veteran police officials say privately that burning small amounts of narcotics in a barrel still occurs, but it's no longer common, as it was in the 1980s.

Don Pierce, the new executive director of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, said he knows of no police agency that disposes of drugs illegally.

"My guess is that the smaller departments just let them pile up because they get very small quantities," he said.

When he was chief at Normandy Park for five years, he said, officers confiscated enough illegal drugs during that period "to fill a shoe box."

Some larger Western Washington agencies, however, can confiscate enough narcotics to fill a couple of vans over a year.

The Ecology Department handles disposal of volatile methamphetamines - the drug that has haunted Tacoma and Pierce County in recent years. That leaves other narcotics - heroin, cocaine, pills and marijuana - with local police to shepherd to an incinerator.

But there are only three furnaces approved by the state for the job: Simpson in Tacoma, Kimberly-Clark paper mill in Everett and a solid waste-burning incinerator owned by the City of Spokane that produces electricity.

Spokane charges a nominal fee. The paper mills do it for free. All furnaces burn at 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit or hotter, eliminating dangerous emissions.

Gathering the drugs and transporting them securely isn't easy. It can be a long, time-consuming journey for some.

At one time, police departments really racked up the miles because the Spokane incinerator was the only option in Washington. And it once suspended narcotic burns, leaving police agencies scrambling temporarily.

Police agencies even considered transporting the hazardous waste across state lines.

Concerned police then contacted the Ecology Department, and Thomas said he asked some companies who qualified if they would help.

"We wanted drugs burned in certified, clean-burning units," he said. "We still encourage more businesses to agree to burn."

Donnelly, the Mercer Island officer, said she's aware of about 25 to 30 agencies that take their drugs to the Tacoma and Everett plants.

Bev Holland, spokeswoman for Simpson, said the company burns the narcotics on an as-needed basis. Police agency employees are actually the ones who handle the materials, with a Simpson official supervising. No glass, metal or flammable liquids are allowed.

Scott Helker, mill manager at Kimberley-Clark in Everett, said the mill offers to incinerate drugs free of charge on certain days each year. Hundreds of pounds burn with tons of wood waste.

Both companies keep a low profile and declined to divulge names or the number of police agencies they work with.

"It's a public service," Holland said. "It's their business. We give permission."

HEADLINE: Chief defends work on evidence

'I could have said nothing, done nothing, but I said no,' he points out

Albuquerque Police Chief Gilbert Gallegos and his supporters say he's making strides toward fixing what they call a decades-old problem with the way police handle evidence.

And Gallegos said the public criticisms of his department represent "a new low of personal attacks" that wrongly question the department's integrity.

"We can blame administrations going back, but who cares at this point?" Gallegos asked the City Council on Monday night. "I decided in 2003 I am not going to sit on my hands. I could have said nothing, done nothing, but I said no. We have to correct it." 

The Police Department has been under fire in recent weeks about irregularities in its evidence room from a chemical spill that might have damaged evidence to accusations of a cover-up.
Gallegos took 30 minutes of a nearly two-hour debate to detail ways in which he has worked to fix evidence room problems.

He has sought independent help for the department, he said, including an investigation by the state Attorney General's Office, the hiring of a former Rio Rancho officer to conduct an internal affairs investigation and the hiring of the head of the International Association of Property and Evidence to conduct an inspection and audit of the evidence room, due to be conducted in April.

"We didn't circle the wagons," Gallegos said. "We've opened the path so they can come up and investigate it."

But City Councilor Eric Griego a mayoral candidate who last week called for Gallegos to testify to council introduced a resolution seeking an investigation of the evidence case by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Griego said the measure scheduled for action April 4 would bring a truly objective investigation free of politics.

Mayor Martin Chavez has said he has already invited U.S. Attorney David Iglesias to look into the problems.

Griego also read from e-mails he said he received from current and former police officers some anonymous who indicated reluctance to come forward for fear of retaliation.

Griego said a current officer reported a senior police supervisor recently threatened any employee who spoke to reporters about the evidence issue. Another former police official wrote anonymously that an assistant district attorney almost lost a high-profile robbery case because jewelry missing from the evidence room was reportedly sold at auction, Griego said.

"There is a real fear of coming forward for fear of retaliation," Griego said. "This is stuff that comes to us."

Gallegos answered by saying his door is open to officers reporting problems.

"I'm not going to retaliate if someone brings forward an issue," he said.

Councilor Martin Heinrich criticized Gallegos for not admitting there was a problem before coming to council.

"There has been, in my opinion, no willingness at any point up to now to really admit there's a substantial problem in how evidence was handled," Heinrich said. "If we approached this from the very start saying 'Yes, there was a problem; this is what the problem amounts to; this is how we'd fix it,' we wouldn't be here tonight."

But Gallegos received strong support from one of his superiors: Nick Bakas, the city's director of public safety and Gallegos' immediate supervisor.

Bakas applauded Gallegos for taking on an issue he said has languished and includes the documentation of thousands of pieces of evidence.

"Chief Gallegos has done more than any (other) chief has done on this issue," Bakas said. "This is major surgery we're performing now. This isn't a 'take an aspirin and call me in the morning.' This is the most aggressive effort ever in the state of New Mexico."

More from Gallegos

• Albuquerque Police Chief Gilbert Gallegos read the City Council an e-mail he received from police Capt. Larry Sonntag, the officer in charge of the Police Department's evidence room, denying news reports he hasn't received adequate support.

• "I want to say loud and clear that you (Gallegos) . . . have overwhelmed me with support and resources since you've assigned me to the evidence unit," wrote Sonntag, who is on vacation in Oklahoma.

• Gallegos said there is no indication that drugs or firearms have been stolen from the evidence room. He said the department has more than 15,000 guns going back to the late 1960s, some of which have lost evidence tags.

• He said a chemical spill last month did not compromise evidence in homicide cases. "The leak would have had to go up the stairs and down the hall to get to homicide cases," Gallegos said. "I've never seen a leak like that."

HEADLINE: Council Grills APD Chief, Attacks Over Evidence 'Sickening'

While raising his voice, pointing his finger and pounding on a lectern, Police Chief Gilbert Gallegos defended his administration Monday and told councilors he has been personally attacked over evidence room problems.

"Everyone's credibility has been called into question," he said. "The personal attacks are sickening. If we are going to disagree, let's disagree." 

In response, some city councilors told Gallegos they did not like his tone. Councilors, who had asked