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