HEADLINE: Report faults former chief's handling of allegations

DATELINE: ALBUQUERQUE

The independent watchdog for the Albuquerque Police Department has criticized the former chief's handling of allegations of theft from the department's evidence room.

However, the report by independent review officer Jay Rowland and others found no evidence of a cover-up by the department's senior officers.

A summary of the 1,000-page report criticized Gilbert Gallegos for not launching an immediate criminal investigation into the allegations, despite a recommendation from his senior staff. Gallegos stepped down in late March amid allegations that he acted too slowly on the reported problems.  "Inadequate supervision over many years created conditions that made theft easy to commit and impossible to prove," the summary said. Gallegos, whose name was the only one mentioned in the report, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Previously, he has said evidence room problems date back 30 years and that no previous police chief took action. He also has said he responded in a timely fashion.

The report also brought that up.

"While efforts were made and it may even be said more was done under Chief Gallegos' leadership than previous administrations, it was not enough," the report said. "Money handling procedures were inadequate. Documentation was incomplete and inadequate."

The report, while faulting Gallegos for not responding quickly enough, also said it appeared he was misled about the nature of the problems.

Still, it said, he ignored and violated basic police procedures.

The report also criticized Gallegos for not removing "suspected employees" from the evidence room quickly enough.

"During the time these suspected personnel were allowed to remain in their jobs, computer records were altered, evidence logs disappeared, and any chance for identifying those responsible for alleged theft was lost," it said. The report said two investigations of officers have been forwarded to internal affairs. 

Police Chief Ray Schultz released Rowland's report Monday just hours after receiving it, and said he will take action to address the report's recommendations.

Those include getting a complete inventory of all items in evidence room warehouses as soon as possible; developing a system to dispose of evidence that's no longer needed; cleaning and renovating the main evidence storage rooms; having the Independent Review Office investigate complaints against captains and other high-ranking officers; and having internal affairs report directly to the chief.

An inventory is already under way.

Two top officials who were placed on leave will return to their jobs, Schultz said. They are Capt. Marie Miranda, who has said supervisors retaliated against her for pointing out problems in the evidence room, and Deputy Police Chief Ed Sauer. The investigation sustained one procedural violation against Miranda, Schultz said. He did not give details. Sauer, who had been accused of encouraging officers to retaliate against whistle-blowers, was cleared of those charges, the chief said.

HEADLINE: Review Faults Ex-APD Chief

DATELINE: ALBUQUERQUE

Evidence Room Management Failed

Former Police Chief Gilbert Gallegos violated "basic police procedures" in handling allegations of wrongdoing in the police evidence room, according to a report issued Monday by Albuquerque's top police watchdog.

A summary of the 1,000-page report faults Gallegos for failing to launch an immediate criminal investigation into alleged thefts from the evidence room, despite the recommendation of senior staff.

Investigators, however, found no evidence of a cover-up by senior leadership, according to the report, which was signed by Independent Review Officer Jay Rowland and others. 

Rowland investigated allegations of evidence-room misconduct at the request of Mayor Martin Chavez. The new police chief, Ray Schultz, released the report's executive summary late Monday, just hours after receiving it. "Inadequate supervision over many years created conditions that made theft easy to commit and impossible to prove," the report's summary said.

It is blunt in faulting police leadership for failing to manage the evidence room better, but the report also says it appears Gallegos was misled about the nature of problems in the evidence room.

"We have no evidence that the Chief failed to act from a desire to cover up the thefts," the report said.

Still, he didn't do enough, it said."Basic police procedures were ignored and violated by the Chief," the report said. It criticizes him for not removing "suspected employees" from the evidence room fast enough, a point raised previously by critics. "During the time these suspected personnel were allowed to remain in their jobs, computer records were altered, evidence logs disappeared, and any chance for identifying those responsible for alleged theft was lost."

Other than Gallegos, the summary released Monday doesn't mention names.

Gallegos has requested that the Journal not contact him for comment, but he previously has maintained that he responded in a timely fashion to the evidence-room allegations. The troubles plaguing the evidence room date back 30 years, he has said, and no chief acted until he took office.

Monday's report touches on that issue. "While efforts were made and it may even be said more was done under Chief Gallegos' leadership than previous administrations, it was not enough," the report said. "Money handling procedures were inadequate. Documentation was incomplete and inadequate."

The report appears to be good news for Capt. Marie Miranda, a whistle-blower in the case, and Deputy Police Chief Ed Sauer. Both will return to their jobs after having been placed on administrative leave, Schultz said.

Miranda, a captain in the foothills area, has claimed supervisors retaliated against her for pointing out problems in the evidence room.

The investigation sustained "one procedural violation" against her, Schultz said, without going into detail.

Sauer had been accused of encouraging officers to retaliate against whistle-blowers. He was "cleared of all charges," Schultz said.

The report isn't all bad news. It says, for example, that many in "senior leadership" and "the vast majority of evidence unit personnel gave their best efforts to accomplish their assigned tasks."
The IRO report won't be the final episode in the case. The report says two investigations of officers have been forwarded to the internal-affairs unit.

The summary says the investigation found several violations of standard operating procedure. It also mentions the case has hurt morale, painting a picture of a "dysfunctional" command.

"Deputy Chiefs supported their friend and leader, the Chief. They called other officers names and did not react to the valid concerns of their subordinates, but attempted to stop those concerns from being raised outside the department. Senior officers did not trust their leaders to do the right thing," it states.

The report makes a host of recommendations, including completing an inventory of all items in the evidence room warehouses and developing a system for disposing of evidence items in accordance with state law.

An inventory is already under way.

The Attorney General's Office announced in April that it wouldn't prosecute anyone in the alleged theft of cash from the Albuquerque police evidence room, partly because critical records were missing.

It found that at least $58,000 in cash was missing, but problems with records made it impossible to determine a total.

Review's recommendations

Police Chief Ray Schultz said he is taking action to address a host of recommendations made by the city's Independent Review Office. The recommendations in a report released Monday include:

* The city needs to get a complete inventory of all items in the evidence room warehouses as soon as possible.
* A system for properly disposing of evidence needs to be developed by police, prosecutors and the city attorney.
* The main evidence-storage rooms need to be cleaned and renovated.
* The Police Department needs better documentation for items obtained through military-surplus programs.
* Complaints against captains and other high-ranking officers should be investigated by the Independent Review Office.
* The union president and vice president shouldn't be performing duties for both the union and APD; the dual role can cause confusion.
* The next contract negotiations with the union should examine whether captains and lieutenants should be part of the union.
* The Internal Affairs Unit should report directly to the chief.

HEADLINE: Probe satisfies mayor --- but not all

DATELINE: ALBUQUERQUE

In March, as headlines blared the problems at the Albuquerque Police Department evidence room, Mayor Martin Chavez said, "Heads will roll."

Two months and two reports later, the rolling has been confined to one head, that of former Chief Gilbert Gallegos, who left the department 10 days after Chavez's declaration.

"That was a big head," Chavez said this week. And that should be the end of the matter, the mayor said Wednesday, after a report done at his request found mismanagement in the department but concluded there had been no cover-up. 

Chavez said he is satisfied steps are being taken to solve remaining problems. Critics aren't so sure. The City Council on May 23 asked the U.S. Attorney's Office to investigate problems in the department a formal resolution that Chavez signed.

Councilor Eric Griego, who introduced the resolution and who is running for mayor in fall's election, said again this week a probe is needed by someone with no political link to the city.

He's not likely to get it. Norm Cairns, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said Wednesday the office received the City Council request but is not planning an investigation.

That leaves, for now, the 1,000-page report completed Monday by police Independent Review Officer Jay Rowland as the last word on the matter.

And that's how the new chief, Ray Schultz, would like it."We're trying to move forward and put this behind us," Schultz said. "I think this story has overshadowed the positive things the department does."

The four-page executive summary of Rowland's report released by Schultz just hours after he received it Monday was critical of management lapses in the department.

The report said Gallegos, by leaving two evidence room employees accused of theft in their posts, allowed destruction of evidence tracking and computer logs that might have detailed their alleged crimes.

An earlier investigation by the state Attorney General's Office that focused on the theft allegations said there was not enough evidence to prosecute.

Rowland's report also cleared Deputy Police Chief Ed Sauer of wrongdoing. Sauer had overseen the evidence room and been placed on administrative leave during Rowland's investigation.

The other two deputy chiefs, Paul Chavez and Fowler Johnston, were found to have committed minor violations of department policy.

Count those three among the heads that aren't rolling. Schultz said this week he would keep all three in their positions, with some changes in responsibilities.

But Schultz also has installed former Bernalillo County Sheriff Joe Bowdich as second in command at the department and given him responsibility for the Metropolitan Forensic Science Center, which houses the evidence storage room, the DNA labs and the department's forensics teams.

Bowdich also oversees a commission created by the mayor to gather key players with an interest in the evidence room so they can monitor and contribute to changes there.

Gary Cade, a prosecutor who helps represent the Bernalillo District Attorney's Office on the commission, said he approves of changes already in place at the evidence storage unit."I don't think most of us (fellow prosecutors) were aware of some of the issues in the attorney general's report. But the things we've become aware of since then, they have done a great job dealing with them," Cade said. City Councilor Craig Loy, a retired Police Department captain, said he also believes that problems in the evidence room have been well vetted and that changes are being made.

"These reports should bring this to a conclusion and closure to the evidence room issue. I'm satisfied," Loy said.

Griego said the department should face more scrutiny, but he also praised Schultz for his efforts so far. "Ray Schultz is doing the best he can to make changes there," Griego said.

Schultz said morale within the department is rebounding after months of focus on the problem."It was really wearing on the officers, and it was wearing on people in evidence," he said. Now, he said he is happy to be looking ahead."Let us move forward and do the great work that we've started," he said.

HEADLINE: Sheriff's Office evidence probe disciplines five 

Four narcotics investigators and one uniformed patrol deputy in the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office have been suspended without pay as part of an investigation into whether evidence was mishandled, a top administrator said Wednesday.

The agency opened an administrative investigation last week into allegations that employees may have failed to "properly secure and document evidence," said Col. Greg Phares, chief criminal deputy for the Sheriff's Office.

Two investigators have been transferred out of the narcotics division; the other two remain assigned there, Phares said. The uniformed patrol deputy has not been reassigned. Their suspensions range from two to 10 days.

"The investigation is still ongoing," Phares said. "The nature of the investigation at this point is regarding a failure to properly secure and document evidence."

Phares would not say what prompted the investigation, nor would he provide additional details about it.

He also declined Wednesday to release the names of the employees involved "at this point."

The investigation comes less than six months after another Sheriff's Office employee was fired and arrested for allegedly stealing money, drugs and weapons from the evidence room, possibly jeopardizing an unknown number of criminal cases.

Lt. Gwendolyn Carroll, 66, was arrested after a search of her home at 2016 Government St. turned up scores of evidence envelopes stashed in 18-gallon tubs, according to an arrest warrant.

Deputies found evidence from about 130 cases.

She is accused of stealing more than $200,000, as well as cocaine, marijuana and guns from the evidence room, which she supervised.

Carroll had been with the Sheriff's Office since 1988 and the Evidence Department for eight years.

At the time, the theft was dubbed the worst breach of evidence security in four decades.

Former Col. Mike Barnett said at the time of her arrest that it appeared she went undetected for a while by replacing evidence when it was subpoenaed and only raised suspicions with co-workers when she reacted nonchalantly to missing evidence, telling them it would turn up eventually.

Carroll has a hearing before Judge Wilson Fields scheduled June 30. 

Four narcotics investigators and one uniformed patrol deputy in the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office have been suspended without pay as part of an investigation into whether evidence was mishandled, a top administrator said Wednesday.

The agency opened an administrative investigation last week into allegations that employees may have failed to "properly secure and document evidence," said Col. Greg Phares, chief criminal deputy for the Sheriff's Office.

Two investigators have been transferred out of the narcotics division; the other two remain assigned there, Phares said. The uniformed patrol deputy has not been reassigned.

Their suspensions range from two to 10 days.

"The investigation is still ongoing," Phares said. "The nature of the investigation at this point is regarding a failure to properly secure and document evidence."

Phares would not say what prompted the investigation, nor would he provide additional details about it.

He also declined Wednesday to release the names of the employees involved "at this point."

The investigation comes less than six months after another Sheriff's Office employee was fired and arrested for allegedly stealing money, drugs and weapons from the evidence room, possibly jeopardizing an unknown number of criminal cases.

Lt. Gwendolyn Carroll, 66, was arrested after a search of her home at 2016 Government St. turned up scores of evidence envelopes stashed in 18-gallon tubs, according to an arrest warrant.

Deputies found evidence from about 130 cases.

She is accused of stealing more than $200,000, as well as cocaine, marijuana and guns from the evidence room, which she supervised.

Carroll had been with the Sheriff's Office since 1988 and the Evidence Department for eight years.

At the time, the theft was dubbed the worst breach of evidence security in four decades.

Former Col. Mike Barnett said at the time of her arrest that it appeared she went undetected for a while by replacing evidence when it was subpoenaed and only raised suspicions with co-workers when she reacted nonchalantly to missing evidence, telling them it would turn up eventually.

Carroll has a hearing before Judge Wilson Fields scheduled June 30. 

HEADLINE: Authorities solve prosecution problem with new evidence room

WARTBURG (WATE) -- Earlier this year, prosecutors in Morgan County had to drop criminal charges in two cases because the sheriff's department couldn't find the evidence. 

Now a new facility and new procedures are in place to make sure that problem doesn't happen again.  The much larger evidence room is about three times as big as the old one, where boxes were stacked up on top of one another. 

In the room, officials can sort through evidence more efficiently because separate areas are maintained for drug cases. Guns lined up against the wall. And outside the room, a metal drop box is provided for after hours when authorities need to maintain a chain of custody. 

In March, six tiny bags of methamphetamine from a drug case turned up missing. The drug charges from that case had to be dropped by the district attorney. The man accused in that case was facing 15 years in prison.

So far, missing evidence from one of dropped cases has been found.

"Everything was accounted for except for one item," Sheriff Bobby Gibson said. "There's still some stuff we're moving down there. When we get a free day we'll try to move up here the rest of it and I think the rest of it may still be in some of those boxes under some of the stuff." 

The old evidence room was located in the old jail. Overcrowding and a lawsuit forced Morgan County to build a new jail which opened around the first of the year. 

HEADLINE: Police custodian confesses to stealing $60,000

BOYNTON BEACH - A police department employee was arrested Monday after he confessed to stealing nearly $60,000 from the department's evidence room.

William Muhleisen Sr., 58, an evidence custodian, started taking money two years ago. He hid the empty bags around the evidence room, police said.

More than 100 cases might have been impacted as a result of the theft, Police Chief Marshall Gage said.

Muhleisen, a former New Jersey police officer, was charged with grand theft and placed on administrative leave. The department plans a full audit to determine how much money was stolen, Gage said.

HEADLINE: Boynton fails to audit for internal theft, Other agencies in the county use safeguards

Boynton Beach police do not have the same safeguards in place to protect against internal theft as other local police agencies, a South Florida Sun-Sentinel review has found.

That review comes as Boynton Beach police this week arrested one of the agency's two evidence custodians for stealing at least $60,000 from its evidence room. 

In some cases, William Muhleisen Sr., 58, took cash from one evidence bag and put it in another to hide his thefts, an arrest report shows. Chief Marshall Gage has ordered a full audit of the evidence room.

Boynton Beach police conduct an annual inspection to meet the department's accreditation standards, Gage said. The process consists of pulling random cases and inspecting the evidence, Gage said. The internal inspectors pull a minimum of 60 cases, but will often pull up to 100 or more.

In explaining why the department does not audit its evidence room, Gage said, "Audits are very time consuming and expensive."

But other law enforcement agencies in Palm Beach County are more aggressive.

Boca Raton police perform two complete audits annually, Capt. Rick Reuter said Wednesday. The department audits all money, guns and drugs at one time and property during the other, in addition to conducting various inspections during the year. Delray Beach police perform an annual audit as well as staff inspections and partial audits throughout the year, Major William McCollom said.

And the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office inspects its evidence room monthly in addition to various inspections throughout the year, spokeswoman Teri Barbera said. Chief Gage said Wednesday an annual audit was "physically impossible."

Key evidence

There are four things agencies can't afford to lose from evidence rooms, McCollom said: money, drugs, weapons and jewelry. Other agencies said the reason for the regular auditing is simple -- the integrity of the evidence room and their officers is at stake. "People are dealing with a lot of money and drugs, and we don't want to put them in a position where they can be wrongfully accused of something," said Reuter, Boca Raton's commander of investigative services. "But we also want to make sure the evidence is stored and properly accounted for. [Audits] just make sense."

Most Boynton Beach city commissioners said Wednesday that they wanted to hear from City Manager Kurt Bressner and Chief Gage before drawing conclusions. "I'll expect the city manager and the police chief to come to the commission with some sort of plan so that this doesn't happen again," Mayor Jerry Taylor said.

Vice Mayor Mack McCray said he was "highly upset" over the incident and said he would address the situation at Friday's pre-agenda meeting.

"I have some concerns when the people we've hired to uphold the law are breaking the law," McCray said. "I just can't swallow that."

An April 1997 audit discovered the evidence room was missing cash and drugs, and the department couldn't account for at least 85 guns seized since 1985.

Gage wouldn't give a timetable for this latest investigation. At least 100 cases may be affected, he said. Muhleisen is on paid administrative leave.

Attorneys' concerns

Criminal defense attorneys say the agency will face considerable problems at trial if juries hear that an evidence room worker stole money because that puts the integrity of the evidence room into question.

"What's to say the evidence hasn't been compromised," West Palm Beach criminal defense attorney Jack Fleischman said. "It may turn out that other items may have been touched, moved or switched to cover up another item that was missing."

The most likely cases that could be affected involve drugs, specifically buy-bust operations and reverse stings, said Robert Gershman, a criminal defense lawyer in West Palm Beach. In those cases, police arrest suspected drug dealers by giving confidential informants cash with known serial numbers to buy drugs. If police find those bills are found on the dealer, he's busted.

"The money trail is integral in proving that the [suspected] drug dealer sold the confidential informant drugs," Gershman said.

But if Muhleisen took those bills, then the prosecution may have difficulty proving their cases, defense attorneys say. This incident comes as the department is still dealing with a blow to its image from a "vacation audit," in which it was found that several officers took more vacation time than they were entitled to by not reporting the time.