IAPE Evidence Blog

Belleville News-Democrat (Illi­nois)
BYLINE: BETH HUNDSDORFER, News-Democrat, bhundsdorfer@bnd.com

Alton, IL

An Alton police officer’s fed­eral con­vic­tion for steal­ing and lying put into jeop­ardy the pros­e­cu­tion of 1,300 pend­ing Madi­son County cases — one-third of all the county’s felony fil­ings, accord­ing to fed­eral court documents. 

When Mickey L. Doo­ley, 50, a for­mer evi­dence tech­ni­cian for the Alton Police Depart­ment, was con­victed in Sep­tem­ber 2008, he was named as a poten­tial wit­ness in 1,300 pend­ing cases, includ­ing drug felonies and murders.

Fed­eral pros­e­cu­tors esti­mated that as many as 50 state felony pros­e­cu­tions were affected by Doo­ley, result­ing in reduced charges, dis­missals and rene­go­ti­ated dis­po­si­tions result­ing in unwar­ranted leniency.

“Evi­dence was pre­sented at sen­tenc­ing that Dooley’s actions have adversely affected numer­ous fed­eral and state pros­e­cu­tions where Doo­ley was or is in the chain of cus­tody of evi­dence,” stated a release by the U.S. attorney’s office.

A fed­eral jury con­victed Doo­ley of evi­dence tam­per­ing, fraud, receiv­ing stolen prop­erty, tax eva­sion and theft last year. Pros­e­cu­tors said he took money stolen from a bank rob­bery from Olin Credit Union and U.S. Bank. Doo­ley served as the department’s evi­dence cus­to­dian for three years until July 2008 when an audit of the evi­dence vault uncov­ered miss­ing money. The 24-year police vet­eran was placed on admin­is­tra­tive leave after the audit was completed.

Pros­e­cu­tors alleged Doo­ley devel­oped a sev­ered gam­bling habit and used money from the police’s evi­dence vault to gamble.

U.S. Dis­trict Judge G. Patrick Mur­phy resen­tenced Mickey Doo­ley after an appel­late court reversed his con­vic­tion on a wire fraud charge ear­lier this year. It was the same prison time Mur­phy imposed last year.

In addi­tion to prison time, Doo­ley was ordered to pay a total of $48,748 in resti­tu­tion, a $650 fine and a $725 spe­cial assessment.

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org

www.examiner-enterprise.com
BYLINE: Tim Hud­son, E-E County Reporter

Bartlesville, OK

A retired Bartlesville police offi­cer who pleaded guilty to 14 counts of felony lar­ceny of a con­trolled dan­ger­ous sub­stance was sen­tenced Mon­day in Wash­ing­ton County Court.

Tenth Judi­cial Dis­trict Judge John Kane sen­tenced Kyle Willaford to 10 years sus­pended on each count, plac­ing him on com­mu­nity sen­tence probation.

Willaford was fur­ther ordered to serve 80 hours of com­mu­nity ser­vice, to be com­pleted within a year, along with the spe­cial con­di­tions that his med­ica­tions are to be mon­i­tored and that he attend two sup­port meet­ings weekly. Also, a $50 fine per count was assessed, along with a $250 Victim’s Com­pen­sa­tion Assessment.

Willaford was accused of tak­ing Lortab and Hydrocodone from the Bartlesville Police Department’s evi­dence room while he was employed as an offi­cer there. He pleaded guilty to the charges on July 22.

Although the state requested six months jail time, Kane chose to go with a sus­pended sen­tence. In a sus­pended sen­tence, the sen­tence will not be enforced if the defen­dant per­forms the con­di­tions of the pro­ba­tion. Should the defen­dant fail to fol­low the require­ments, then the sus­pended sen­tence may be revoked.

Willaford was orig­i­nally charged with 18 counts of the crime, but the state dropped four of the counts with­out costs ear­lier in the proceedings.

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org

www.wrex.com

East St Louis, IL

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) — A for­mer Alton police offi­cer who stole money from an evi­dence vault and lied to inves­ti­ga­tors has been resen­tenced to a decade in fed­eral prison.

A fed­eral judge in East St. Louis also ordered 50-year-old Mickey Doo­ley to pay nearly $49,000 in restitution.

Doo­ley was indicted in Jan­u­ary 2008 on charges that accused him of lying to inves­ti­ga­tors, steal­ing money from an evi­dence room and com­mit­ting wire fraud, among other crimes. Jurors con­victed him in Sep­tem­ber 2008.

A fed­eral appeals court in Chicago later reversed Dooley’s con­vic­tion on a wire-fraud count and ordered him resen­tenced. The pun­ish­ment imposed Mon­day was the same as his orig­i­nal sentence.

Pros­e­cu­tors alleged the 24-year Alton police vet­eran used the stolen money from the evi­dence vault to sup­port a gam­bling habit.

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org