IAPE Evidence Blog

www.StarTribune.com, Min­neapo­lis — St. Paul, MN
BYLINE: RANDY FURST, Star Tri­bune
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Ram­sey County & Min­neapo­lis, MN

Author­i­ties pur­sue reports of miss­ing, sold or poorly tracked evi­dence — from watches to fur­ni­ture to drug seizures.

One mem­ber of the Metro Gang Strike Force allegedly stored ille­gal drugs in his file cabinet.

The force’s office man­ager was being inves­ti­gated in con­nec­tion with the dis­ap­pear­ance of sev­eral watches.

Also probed was the sale of a throne-like chair, seized in a raid, to a Strike Force offi­cial to give to his wife.

These are among the leads that inter­nal affairs offi­cers from three law enforce­ment agen­cies have pur­sued as inves­ti­ga­tions qui­etly con­tinue into the activ­i­ties of the mem­bers of the defunct and dis­graced Metro Gang Strike Force.

Because the FBI is con­duct­ing a sep­a­rate crim­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tion, it has declined to pro­vide law enforce­ment agen­cies with files it has obtained. Those agen­cies have had to file data requests with the lame-duck Strike Force advi­sory board.

The Star Tri­bune obtained copies of the law enforce­ment inquiries under the Min­nesota Data Prac­tices statute.

Some of those involved have already been dis­ci­plined. For­mer Strike Force offi­cer David Gar­man was fired by the Min­neapo­lis Police Depart­ment. Another Min­neapo­lis offi­cer on the Strike Force, Randy Olson, resigned while under inves­ti­ga­tion. The Strike Force’s office man­ager, Cindy Gehlsen, was fired by the Ram­sey County Sheriff’s Department.

Two Ram­sey County deputies and a Min­neapo­lis police offi­cer were sus­pended. No St. Paul offi­cers have been dis­ci­plined, though that department’s inter­nal affairs inquiry con­tin­ues, said Sgt. Paul Schnell, St. Paul police spokesman.

The Strike Force was for­mally dis­banded on July 17 by state Pub­lic Safety Com­mis­sioner Michael Cam­pion after a series of alle­ga­tions of misconduct.

On Dec. 2, Jim Decowski of the St. Paul police inter­nal affairs unit e-mailed Kori Land, the Strike Force advi­sory board’s attor­ney, ask­ing for “files about [the Strike Force] shut­down and dope being found in fil­ing cab­i­net belong­ing to” a Strike Force offi­cer, a mem­ber of the St. Paul Police Department.

It is not known whether the offi­cer faces dis­ci­pline in con­nec­tion with the drug alle­ga­tions, so the Star Tri­bune is not nam­ing him. Reached by phone, the offi­cer declined to comment.

Decowski also sought infor­ma­tion on nine cases involv­ing the same Strike Force offi­cer going back to 2002. All appear to be drug cases. Drugs were stored in the evi­dence room of the Strike Force offices in New Brighton, but it was not a secure room, and some offi­cers expressed con­cerns about leav­ing evi­dence there, sources say.

In a sep­a­rate inquiry in Octo­ber, Brenda Brozik, an inspec­tor for the Ram­sey County Sheriff’s Office, sought infor­ma­tion on some miss­ing watches in con­nec­tion with “an inter­nal affairs inves­ti­ga­tion into alleged mis­con­duct” by Gehlsen.

“I am look­ing for copies of reports related to the Strike Force case that involved miss­ing watches (50),” she wrote.

The Strike Force sent her reports about a 2006 drug raid on a house on the 200 block of Irv­ing Avenue N. in Min­neapo­lis in which watches were seized.

In their inves­tiga­tive report on the Strike Force for the Depart­ment of Pub­lic Safety, for­mer assis­tant U.S. Attor­ney Andrew Luger and retired FBI agent John Egel­hof said 20 watches worth as much as $2,000 were miss­ing from the evi­dence room. The report said a Strike Force employee, whom the report did not iden­tify, wrote in a case file that the watches were given to a jew­eler to be sold. But the jew­eler never received them.

The report also said that an offi­cer reported see­ing two uniden­ti­fied Strike Force employ­ees and a rel­a­tive of an employee in a con­fer­ence room, look­ing at the watches. One of them held a watch to their wrist, the report said. “Upon see­ing the offi­cer in charge of the case watch­ing them, one of the employ­ees stated they were not doing any­thing wrong,” Luger and Egel­hof wrote.

Gehlsen was fired in Novem­ber for sev­eral cited rea­sons includ­ing mis­han­dling evi­dence, although it is unknown if the miss­ing watches were a factor.

Decowski of the St. Paul police inter­nal affairs unit also sought infor­ma­tion on a case in which Strike Force offi­cers seized $4,500 from two Hon­duran men in the Min­neapo­lis auto impound lot. No drugs were found in their possession.

Sgt. Jason Case of the Min­neapo­lis police inter­nal affairs unit sought infor­ma­tion from the force on Nov. 24 about a “large chair.” Luger and Egel­hof wrote in their report that a Strike Force offi­cer bought the chair for $190 as a present for his wife.

Sources have told the Star Tri­bune that Lt. James Heimerl, assis­tant Strike Force com­man­der, was being inves­ti­gated for buy­ing the for­feited chair for his wife, who refin­ishes fur­ni­ture. It was a pop­u­lar chair at Strike Force head­quar­ters; offi­cers enjoyed being pho­tographed in it because a bun­dle of cash had been found under the uphol­stery. Ron Ryan, Strike Force com­man­der, was par­tic­u­larly fond of sit­ting in it because it por­trayed an image of power, a source said.

Staff writer Paul McEn­roe con­tributed to this article.

Randy Furst • 612 – 673-7382

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