HEADLINE: AROUND THE STATE: Ex-deputy faces charges of stealing from suspect

WATERTOWN (AP) -- A former Jefferson County sheriff's deputy faces a felony larceny charge for allegedly stealing money from a drug suspect.

Gregory Bush was indicted Friday on charges of grand larceny and official misconduct. He pleaded not guilty. 

The indictment accuses Bush, a former member of the Metro-Jeff Drug Task Force, of taking about $800 from a suspect on April 2, 2003. The larceny charge is a felony because the alleged theft occurred while Bush was acting in an official capacity.

Sheriff John Burns said the charges against Bush stemmed from the arrest of Rebecca Johnson, who was charged with drug possession after military police found four Ecstasy tablets on her at a gate to Fort Drum.

Burns said Bush took money from Johnson but never placed it in the evidence locker. Johnson pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct. She later sought to have the $800 returned.

Bush was released Friday, placed under probation supervision and ordered to surrender all of his firearms to the sheriff's department.

HEADLINE: DNA CAN BETRAY LESSER CRIMINALS

BYLINE: By MONIQUE ANGLE mangle@dailypress.com | 247-4731

DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS

While murder, rape and other violent cases take priority, the state crime lab still makes time for $200 burglaries.

Early one morning in March, a burglar sawed a hole through the roof of Leon's Market in the East End, climbed through the opening and swiped $200 in cigarettes.

On Wednesday, Newport News police arrested 42-year-old Thomas Underwood and charged him with grand larceny and burglary after blood and other evidence found on the market's cash register, freezer top and other appliances were processed at the state crime lab.

The evidence collected at the market matched Underwood's profile in the state's DNA databank, which contains the DNA profiles of more than 236,000 convicted felons.

Police across Virginia are increasingly solving nonviolent crimes using DNA evidence -- even in cases where small amounts of cash or merchandise are taken.  According to statistics from the state Department of Forensic Science, of the 2,822 cases solved by matches, or "hits," from the DNA databank, 62 percent involved crimes such as breaking and entering, burglary, grand larceny or robbery.

If the evidence at a crime scene is there -- even if the case is minor -- police said it's their job to collect it and send it to the lab. "If he did a $10 robbery, he could have done a million-dollar robbery," said Newport News police spokesman Lou Thurston.

But at the state crime lab, staffing levels and a growing caseload have caused a significant backlog in processing DNA evidence. Cases involving violent or serial crimes get priority, said Steven Sigel, deputy director of the Virginia Department of Forensic Science. It's up to law enforcement agencies to decide what types of cases to send to the lab, he said.

"We do not turn away cases," Sigel said.

In Newport News and Hampton, patrol officers have been trained to recognize and collect evidence in certain cases, such as burglaries or larcenies. In Hampton, forensic technicians collect evidence for aggravated crimes such as homicides and rapes, said Cpl. James West.

"They know how not to damage evidence," West said, "and how to treat hazardous materials such as blood ... and then how to package and collect those items."

In the case at Leon's Market, the blood was collected by the first officer at the scene. Underwood, the suspect in that case, is being held at the Newport News jail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 29.

In a case on March 28, someone entered a home on Hampton Avenue and took about $200 in personal property. When the officer arrived at the house, he found a wool coat at the entrance that didn't belong to the residents.

The coat was sent to the crime lab and in June the lab determined that DNA evidence found on the coat was consistent with DNA evidence stored in the databank.

Charges have not yet been brought against the suspect.

Even when there is a hit within the databank, a direct sample from the suspect is still needed for comparison to evidence found at the scene.

Sometimes, the DNA databank doesn't yield a suspect.

"One thing people have to understand, you have to have something to compare it to," Thurston said. "They might not be in the DNA databank... It's not the magical answer."

HEADLINE: Loudon Co. chief deputy arraigned

BYLINE: News Sentinel staff

Chief Deputy Tony Aikens of the Loudon County Sheriff's Office was arraigned Monday on charges of extortion and tampering with evidence. He pleaded not guilty to both counts.

The charges are based on unrelated incidents.

The extortion case is a re-indictment of a charge that was recently dismissed. Aikens and his supporters say both charges are politically motivated.

Also pleading not guilty to tampering with evidence was Capt. Tony Arden.

No trial date has been set, and it is not clear who will try the cases. Since Judge Gene Eblen recused himself from the previous case against Aikens, he is expected to do so again. Eblen set a deadline date of Dec. 12 for filing motions.

The extortion case is related to a motorist's claims that he was forced to donate nearly $10,000 to the county's drug fund. Aikens was not accused of pocketing any of that money for himself. The tampering case involves missing evidence in a case of a third officer who was accused of assaulting a prisoner.

HEADLINE: POLICE ADMIT TO MORE MISPLACED EVIDENCE; Defense lawyers in three capital murder cases may never have seen relevant items

BYLINE: STEVE McVICKER, ROMA KHANNA

Houston police have discovered about 150 pieces of evidence - including items from three capital murder cases - that may never have been brought to the attention of defense attorneys during their clients' trials, Chief Harold Hurtt announced Tuesday.

The cases, Hurtt said, include one in which the defendant already has been executed. The evidence was uncovered during work to computerize all materials stored in the police property room - a process that began several years ago.

The revelations are the latest in a 2 1/2-year saga of problems that have plagued the HPD evidence analysis and storage divisions. Shoddy science, substandard facilities and poorly trained analysts led to the shutdown of the crime lab's DNA division in December 2002. Since then, two men have been released from prison because of faulty testing, and the integrity of thousands of cases has been questioned. Last August, HPD officials discovered evidence
from thousands of cases that was improperly tagged and lost in its property room.

The latest discovery of unaccounted-for evidence in a capital case was made last Thursday, Hurtt said during a Tuesday news conference.

"The most significant" of the evidence, according to Hurtt, is a cigarette butt discovered in the property room that originally was collected during the investigation of a 1991 robbery-slaying of a Houston bank teller.

Robert Campbell is awaiting execution for the murder of Alexandra Rendon, the teller. Leroy Lewis, a co-defendant, pleaded guilty in exchange for a 35-year sentence. Attorney Lonnie Knowles served as one of Campbell's trial lawyers.

"Oh my God, are you serious?" Knowles asked when informed about the evidence found. He said he did not recall ever being aware of the existence of the cigarette butt.

"I can't tell you 100 percent that it would have made a difference," Knowles said. "But from a defense perspective, I would have loved to have known about that. Absolutely. Even a baby lawyer would have recognized the possible importance of something like that."

Hurtt said he could not say if, in fact, defense attorneys had been made aware all of the evidence in the three capital cases before trial, but he indicated that he intended to find out.

"This is early on in the process," the chief said. "And we're going to do what's necessary to ensure that we don't have anybody in jail unfairly, especially people that are facing the death penalty."

Hurtt said computerization of the property room inventory began in 1991 and that, thus far, evidence in close to 700,000 case has been bar-coded.

Hurtt said evidence in 5,000 cases remains to be processed but that HPD is "expediting the reconciliation process to determine if other cases might be affected."

In addition to the Campbell and Lewis case, evidence - a car baby-seat - connected to the capital murder case of Ponchai Wilkerson was discovered.

Wilkerson was executed in March 14, 2000, for the fatal shooting of Chung Myong Yi in a Houston jewelry store robbery. The crime was part of what prosecutors said was a days-long spree in which Wilkerson committed other violent crimes.

Wilkerson never denied that he shot Yi, but he maintained that he fired because the jeweler's movements behind the counter alarmed him.

The crux of Wilkerson's defense during his 1991 trial was that he may not have been involved in all of the crimes prosecutors linked him to during the punishment phase.

Troy McKinney, who represented Wilkerson, said he worried that the car seat discovered in the HPD property room may have been from one of those crimes.

"What really got him the death penalty was the extraneous offenses - not the primary offense," said McKinney, who speculated that prosecutors might not have sought a death sentence without those other crimes. "If that evidence eliminated one of the extraneous offenses, it makes it less likely he would have received the death penalty."

McKinney said he will request access to the car seat and will try to determine whether or not there is any biological evidence on it. He said he also plans to review his records to see if he was aware of its existence at trial.

"It might not have been listed anywhere," he said.

Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal, who was briefed by HPD on Tuesday, said a limited, preliminary review of Wilkerson's case suggests that the car seat was not significant, but he added that he will conduct a thorough review of the case.

Evidence also was located in the case of death row inmate Warren Darrell Rivers, who is awaiting execution for the 1987 killing of an 11-year-old boy found beaten, stabbed and abused with a broken broomstick. The rediscovered evidence includes some clothes, a towel and a knife.

But only in the Campbell case has post-conviction DNA testing been requested by the defense, Hurtt said.

"When (the defense) made the request, we gave them all the evidence we knew about," Hurtt said. However, the chief said the cigarette butt was not discovered until last Thursday.

Hurtt said his office has briefed the Harris County District Attorney's Office about the situation.

"At that point, it appears that none of the evidence in these cases was presented at trial," Hurtt said.

Rosenthal said prosecutors will review the cases of Wilkerson, Campbell, Lewis and Rivers to determine whether any of the evidence is relevant to their cases.

He is less concerned by the latest problems with evidence at HPD than some other revelations, he said, noting that all four cases have been through the appeals process.

"The fact that they have been through so many pieces of evidence is a little bit reassuring from an odds standpoint," Rosenthal said. "But I cannot say definitively until I know what all the evidence in the cases was."

NOTES: steve.mcvicker@chron.comroma.khanna@chron.com

HEADLINE: Evidence Room Probe Is Released 

BYLINE: T.J. Wilham and Jeff Proctor, Journal Staff Writers

Mayor Martin Chávez ordered on Wednesday the release of 1,000 pages of documents from a recent investigation into the police department's evidence room.

The documents, which include e-mails, transcripts of text messages and interviews, interoffice memos and various reports, were collected by the city's Independent Review Office. They detail conversations in which high-ranking police officials discuss how to handle officers speaking out about the evidence room problems; what to do about news coverage; and ordering officers not to report allegations directly to investigators.

In one, a high-ranking official refers to two female officers as "bitter hags."

Albuquerque Police spokesman John Walsh said Wednesday evening that since Chief Ray Schultz took office in April he has made it clear that such conduct detailed in the documents is not tolerated.

"The chief of police is expecting the highest standards of not only the department but especially of his executive personnel," Walsh said. "He took discipline at all levels ... it is clearly understood that such conduct is unacceptable."

Some documents, including transcripts of interviews with officers who were required to give statements, were excluded because of police union and constitutional concerns.

The report faults former Police Chief Gilbert Gallegos for failing to launch an immediate criminal investigation into alleged thefts from the evidence room, despite the recommendations of senior staff. Investigators, however, found no evidence of a cover-up by senior leadership.

The Attorney General's Office, which also conducted an investigation in the evidence room, determined there was evidence of criminal conduct but not enough to prosecute.

On Wednesday, Chávez also ordered Chief Schultz to release the names and the discipline of six officers, which included two captains and two deputy chiefs, who were implicated in the investigation. Schultz previously had said those names couldn't be released because of personnel rules.

"There was a little bit of woodshed at City Hall this morning," Chávez said Wednesday. 

"I was upset with my chief and a deputy city attorney. They are good people. It is all being produced and we are moving on."

According to the department, those disciplined included:

Sgt. Art Acosta— suspension of 30 hours. Acosta was a supervisor in the evidence room.

Marc Adams, assistant lab director— verbal reprimand.

Deputy Chief Paul Chavez— letter of reprimand. Chavez had commanded APD's Field Services Bureau.

Deputy Chief Fowler Johnston— verbal reprimand. Johnston commands APD's Administrative Bureau.

Capt. Marie Miranda— letter of reprimand. Miranda was the former commander of the evidence room.

Capt. Ron Paiz— letter of reprimand. Paiz was the captain that oversaw Internal Affairs.

It wasn't immediately clear what actions led to the discipline.

'Bitter hags'

Among the documents released Wednesday are e-mails in which high-ranking officers discuss the possibility of transferring and demoting officers who had spoken up about evidence room concerns. In others, a high-ranking officer orders a subordinate to report any allegations to him and not to the city's independent review officer.

In one e-mail, a high-ranking official calls two women who had spoken up— Miranda and Detective Cynthia Orr— "bitter hags who just wanna hurt people."

Miranda, Orr and other former and current officers came forward with allegations that then-Police Chief Gallegos didn't act fast enough when provided evidence that two employees were stealing from the evidence room.

The report also contains e-mails of naked women that were exchanged between high-ranking police officials.

Police officials also expressed frustration over news coverage of the evidence room.
One text message exchange said: "We can't get the truth out to the media. We need to quit trying. It is undignified. ... We need to get the troops on board and let them know the REAL truth."

One message indicated that Gallegos was "bummed" when he learned that a story was going to appear the next morning about Orr going forward with allegations that he didn't act fast enough to fix problems. Gallegos had set up the meeting between a reporter and Orr.

Police officials did acknowledge that Orr was right about one thing:
"She spilled her guts. Funny though. Everything she requested was done. Other than moving the (employees suspected of wrongdoing) sooner."

Sought-after papers

Ever since Independent Review Officer Jay Rowland completed his investigation June 6, reporters, attorneys and Chávez's political opponents have been trying to get a copy of the documents that were released Wednesday.

At first, APD released a letter Rowland wrote to Chávez. After more requests, a redacted version of an executive summary of the report was released and officials said that is all that would be made public.

Chávez said Wednesday he ordered APD to hand over the entire investigation months ago and was surprised when he found out this week from news accounts that it hadn't been made available. Chávez said a deputy city attorney was supposed to make sure the report was released in its entirety.

Attorney Rob Perry, who represents Miranda, said he has been trying to get the report since June.

Perry had maintained that his client was punished as retaliation, and he needs the report to legally fight it.

"It is unfortunate that it was not provided when we originally requested it," Perry said. "It is encouraging it has been released and it is going to be interesting to review it. It will now be up to the public to determine if APD's management gave the appropriate discipline."

Before Chávez made his announcement Wednesday, City Councilor and mayoral candidate Brad Winter issued a news release saying he, too, was demanding the documents.

The documents were given to the Journal late Wednesday. Reporters had yet to review all of the documents.

Rowland said Wednesday the investigation includes more than just the evidence room. He said when his investigators found evidence of other wrongdoing, he reported it.

Chávez said that he has not read through the entire report.

"I have not reviewed it all in detail," he said. "That's not my job."

HEADLINE: FBPD clerk arrested

According to a press release from Lt. Floyd Higdon of the Fort Bragg Police Department, Linda E. Iversen, 53, of Fort Bragg, was arrested Thursday, Aug. 11, by Mendocino County Sheriff's Office deputies at the FBPD Substation for alleged burglary and conspiracy to commit a crime. 

Iversen, who was placed on immediate administrative leave pending an internal investigation, has worked for the department as a property/evidence clerk for approximately 10 years. She has been employed by the City of Fort Bragg since 1986. 

Iversen's arrest followed an investigation by the Sheriff's Office and the District Attorney's Office at the request of Fort Bragg Police Chief Russell Thomas. Iversen was contacted by the joint investigative team while at work Thursday morning and reportedly admitted the theft of property from the department's property/evidence room during an interview. An unidentified member of the Sheriff's Office had been informed that a FBPD employee was stealing property from the department. 

Iversen was booked into Mendocino County Jail and bail was set at $15,000. An audit of the property/evidence room will be conducted in an attempt to determine how much property has been removed. 

According to a report Tuesday in the Ukiah Daily Journal, Sheriff's spokesperson Kevin Broin said that items taken from the evidence room included firearms and drugs. 

"We don't know how far reaching this is going to be...if it is something recent or if it has been going on for a long time...." 

According to Kurt Smallcomb of the Sheriff's Office, an audit of the property and evidence room will be conducted to determine how much property was removed. That audit should produce a time frame for the alleged incident or incidents, a list of the items taken, and a dollar amount for those items.

HEADLINE: Heed ideas for cutting wrongful convictions

Recommendations of a task force established after DNA evidence showed that Steven Avery of Two Rivers was wrongfully convicted of sexual assault are now in the form of a legislative bill announced Wednesday.

The Wisconsin Legislature should pass it.

The bill calls for:

* A requirement that law enforcement agencies have some kind of written policy on how eye-witness identifications are conducted.

* An extension of the statute of limitations for sexual assault-related crimes.

* A policy spelling out what DNA evidence must be preserved in specific cases.

* Priority status for DNA testing in potential wrongful conviction cases when a judge orders it.

* A requirement that police record interrogations of juveniles and be encouraged to do the same with adult suspects.

Avery served 18 years in prison before new DNA evidence revealed that he did not sexually assault and try to murder a Manitowoc woman as she jogged on the Lake Michigan beach in 1985, the crimes for which he was convicted. The new DNA evidence matched that of a man now serving a 60-year sentence for the sexual assault of another woman.

"At the time of the arrest, Avery had a wife, five children and a job," Gov. Jim Doyle said in announcing his support for the bipartisan bill. "When he was released, his wife had divorced him, his children -- two of (whom) were less than a week old when he was imprisoned -- were grown and his job was long gone."

Although some law enforcement agencies may balk at the proposed requirements, the state has a responsibility to minimize the potential for wrongful convictions in every way it can.

The Wisconsin Innocence Project, a program at the University of Wisconsin Law School that works to free wrongly convicted prisoners, helped Avery win his freedom and is involved in a second Northeastern Wisconsin case -- that of Beth LaBatte, who is serving a life term for the 1991 killings of sisters Ceil Cadigan, 85, and Ann Cadigan, 90, in rural Kewaunee County. DNA found on evidence in that case did not match LaBatte's. The UW law group has filed a
motion for a new trial based on the DNA evidence.

The justice system fails if even one person is wrongfully convicted.

To minimize the chance of that happening, the task force -- made up of Democratic and Republican lawmakers, judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers, police and sheriffs, academics and a victim advocate -- came up with its recommendations.

They're solid and should become law.

   Issue

   Wrongful convictions

   Our view

The Wisconsin Legislature should adopt task-force recommendations that minimize the chance of someone going to prison for a crime that he or she did not commit.

HEADLINE: Suspended Dover Detective Steven Brennan was indicted Tuesday; Dover cop indicted on charges of misconduct; Detective is accused of stealing cocaine, then ingesting drug

BYLINE: Peggy Wright

Suspended Dover Detective Steven Brennan was indicted Tuesday on a charge of official misconduct, accused of swiping two bags of cocaine from an evidence safe in June and ingesting the powder over several days.

The Morris County grand jury indictment, which includes a second count of cocaine possession, formalizes charges filed against the 42-year-old Rockaway resident on July 2.

After a Dover police sergeant found an empty evidence bag in a patrol car used by Brennan, authorities said, an investigation led to Brennan's confession that he took the cocaine from a temporary evidence-holding safe and ingested it.

The official misconduct charge alleges that, on June 13, Brennan committed an unauthorized act relating to his position and took the cocaine. Official misconduct is a crime that carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and forfeiture of the job upon conviction.

Brennan, who was earning $77,522 a year as a detective, was released after his arrest on the condition he enter and complete a 28-day in-patient substance abuse program at Sunrise House in Lafayette. On Aug. 2, the day he was released from Sunrise House, Brennan was charged with driving under the influence in Dover after he struck a stop sign and pole on Richards Avenue.

Brennan told police he was taking the anti-depressant drug Lexapro, and tests revealed he had no alcohol in his system. Authorities now await the results of tests on a urine sample that Brennan provided, and he is tentatively scheduled to appear Sept. 7 in Randolph Municipal Court on motor vehicle charges stemming from the accident, defense lawyer Peter Gilbreth said. The case was transferred from Dover to Randolph because of Brennan's job in Dover.

Brennan was suspended without pay following his arrest in July. He is scheduled to appear in Superior Court, Morristown, on Sept. 13 for arraignment on the criminal charges, Gilbreth said. Gilbreth is awaiting more information about the charges from the prosecutor's office before he concentrates on possible defenses.

After the accident, Brennan was ordered by a judge to temporarily surrender his driver's license and to continue out-patient treatment for substance abuse.

Dover Police Chief Harold "Butch" Valentine said Tuesday that he never suspected Brennan of having an addiction and viewed him as a competent, trustworthy officer.

"Steve knows he made a mistake and he's not going to hide from it," Valentine said.

The cocaine Brennan is accused of taking was evidence seized in 2000 from a defendant whose case has long since been resolved. The Morris County Prosecutor 's Office, after Brennan's arrest, immediately ordered an audit to inventory an evidence-keeping system it said was in disarray. The audit has been completed. While the prosecutor's office has not publicly commented on the outcome of the audit, Valentine said record-keeping was not nearly as bad as first perceived and no other evidence was missing.

"We've identified the problems," Valentine said. "We had an outdated system, due to lack of money. We're getting things into the 21st century and tracking evidence on a computer now. We used to log evidence with a pencil and notebook. That's how it was tracked before."

Peggy Wright can be reached at (973)267-1142 or pwright@gannett.com.

Copyright 2005 Daily Record (Morristown, NJ), Daily Record (Morristown, New Jersey)

HEADLINE: Auditor's office discontinues audits of Hobbs, Lovington police

DATELINE: SANTA FE

The state auditor's office is no longer auditing evidence rooms in the Hobbs and Lovington police departments.

Audits had been requested by the police chiefs of the two Lea County communities.

State Auditor Domingo Martinez said his office found no problems in either evidence room, but noted he lacks experts for that type of review.

"We're financial auditors," he said. "We don't deal in evidence rooms audits, procedures and stuff like that."

Martinez said he suggested an agency with more expertise might handle the request.

District Attorney Terry Haake said he would meet with police and city officials in both Hobbs and Lovington to determine whether his office should ask another agency for an audit.

"We'll look at it, try to figure out what we can do if we need to do anything," he said.

Lovington Police Chief Donnie Smith wrote Haake on May 3, requesting an audit. Smith cited improper handling of evidence, possible destruction of evidence and weapons missing from the evidence room.

Two days later, then-Hobbs Police Chief Ken Bohn requested a similar audit. He mentioned unaccounted-for weapons, mishandling of evidence in a 1999 homicide investigation and recording equipment discovered in police administrative offices "in which citizens, elected officials and employees were reportedly recorded" without any evidence of recordings being inventoried.

Haake asked Martinez's office to handle the audits because of his office's close relationship with both police departments.

Smith said there have been procedural problems in the past in his department. A general audit last November showed problems in the evidence room.

"We need investigative work done where people go out and actually conduct interviews outside the department, and that's where we need the assistance," he said.

Acting Hobbs Police Chief Johnny Gonzales said he was awaiting a meeting with Haake to decide if further steps need to be taken.

Allegations concerning the Albuquerque Police Department's evidence room led to investigations earlier this year by the state attorney general and an independent city review officer.

The review officer found signs of theft and general mismanagement but not enough to bring criminal charges. The attorney general found evidence of criminal misconduct, but Attorney General Patricia Madrid said her office couldn 't justify prosecution because records were so bad it was impossible to prove a case.

HEADLINE: State Attorney Critical of Police Chief; Jerry Hill says poor procedures led to $8,000 turning up missing.

BYLINE: Iza Montalvo

Link to Article

DUNDEE -- State Attorney Jerry Hill criticized Dundee Police Chief Bill Guess on Friday about the disappearance of $8,000 from the Police Department's evidence room.

"The disappearance of the money . . . casts a dark cloud over the administration of the Dundee Police Department," Hill said in a letter sent Friday to Town Manager Jim Gallagher.

Gallagher said he has not had a chance to read the report.

"I am not going to rush into judgment. I need to review the investigation report first," Gallagher said.

Police recovered the money while investigating the death of Margaret Maloney, who disappeared sometime between Nov. 2, 2004, and April 13, 2005, according to Hill's letter.

Friday, Guess described the letter as "unfair and inaccurate."

"The letter insinuates that we never look(ed) for the missing property, and that is inaccurate," he said.

Nevertheless, Guess said that, as police chief, he accepts responsibility for the missing money and has taken steps to correct the issues that led to the problem.

Hill wrote the letter following an investigation by Agent Robert Ura of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Guess said he asked the FDLE to join the investigation after his officers discovered evidence that Maloney, who committed suicide, may have been involved in a passport scheme.

Ura was not able "to identify who took the money, largely as a result of the violation of the (department's) evidence procedures. It is impossible to pinpoint when the money disappeared," Hill's letter said.

According to the investigation, Sgt. Dusty Bowen, Officer Ralph Marshall and Lee Sacco, a parttime evidence technician, handled the money at some point between Nov. 2, 2004, and April 13, when the department discovered the money was missing. Sacco resigned Thursday, saying he needed to spend more time at his job with the Reedy Creek Fire Department.

The police investigation started last November after Maloney was discovered in her home, shot in the head. A month later, she died, and her death was ruled a suicide.

During the shooting investigation, Dundee officers discovered $8,000 in cash and a number of expired passports in a briefcase.

At that point, Guess said he asked the FDLE to join the investigation.

Ura started investigating the money's disappearance after the family asked for its return.

The money, which was put in a manila envelope, could not be found, and the town's insurance carrier paid the family.

In his letter, Hill said Bowen, Marshall and Sacco admitted to not following "the rules regarding the identification and preservation of evidence, chain of custody and submission of evidence for storage."

"No precautions were taken by anyone at the department, including Chief William Guess, to safeguard the money," Hill said in his letter.

Hill criticized the department for not having a "policy for the handling of money taken into evidence."

In his letter, the state attorney asked town officials to "take immediate action to correct these deficiencies."

Guess said he has done that.

The chief said he has rewritten the department's policy to set and update rules on handling money and other evidence.

Security cameras also have been installed in the department's evidence room, he said.

Guess named his assistant, Staci Donahue, as the evidence clerk. He said Donahue had experience handling evidence before joining the Dundee department.

The officers involved during the suicide investigation may also face disciplinary action, Guess said.

This is not the first time that procedures for handling evidence at the Dundee Police Department have come under scrutiny, Hill said in his letter.

However, "This is the first time under my administration that something like this happened," Guess said

Guess, who has been chief for two years, said he shouldn't be blamed for things that were done in the past.

"People make mistakes, and we realized there were deficiencies in our policy," he said. "But I am taking steps to make sure this does not happen again in the town of Dundee."

Iza Montalvo can be reached at iza.montalvo@theledger.com or 863-401-6967.