IAPE Evidence Blog

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, The Repub­lic (Colum­bus, IN), therepublic.com

Mus­ca­tine, IA

MUSCATINE, Iowa — A for­mer police offi­cer in Mus­ca­tine has pleaded guilty to cocaine pos­ses­sion and second-degree theft.

Forty-eight-year old Scott Burk was arrested last August fol­low­ing an inves­ti­ga­tion by the Mus­ca­tine police and the Iowa Divi­sion of Crim­i­nal Investigation.

Author­i­ties dis­cov­ered cocaine in Burk’s vehi­cle and res­i­dence and miss­ing funds from the evi­dence room of the Mus­ca­tine County Drug Task Force.

Burk also pleaded guilty Fri­day to a drug tax stamp vio­la­tion. He faces up to five years each for that and the theft charge and up to a year for drug possession.

Burk will be sen­tenced in July. Mus­ca­tine County Attor­ney Alan Oster­gren says his office will rec­om­mend prison time.

David Treimer, Burk’s attor­ney, says he will ask the court for pro­ba­tion and that Burk is cur­rently in drug treatment.

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

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Pleas­ant Hill, IA

Dan Edwards Will Avoid Prison Time

DES MOINES, Iowa — A for­mer Pleas­ant Hill police offi­cer appeared in court Fri­day morn­ing for sen­tenc­ing on three charges.

Dan Edwards was charged with dri­ving under the influ­ence, pos­ses­sion of an ille­gal drug and third-degree burglary.

Police said the bur­glary charge stemmed from Edwards steal­ing metham­phet­a­mine from the Pleas­ant Hill Police Department’s evi­dence room.

The charge was in addi­tion to other charges stem­ming from a crash in April in which inves­ti­ga­tors believe Edwards was high on drugs when he lost con­trol of his police SUV and crashed on the US High­way 65 bypass. A state trooper reported find­ing meth on Edwards, and he was charged with possession.

In a sen­tenc­ing hear­ing Fri­day at the Polk County cour­t­house, Edwards told the judge, “I’ve tried to give my life to the com­mu­nity and I’ve cer­tainly thrown that all away. I can’t apol­o­gize enough.”

Edwards received pro­ba­tion for the meth pos­ses­sion charge, one year pro­ba­tion for dri­ving under the influ­ence and three years pro­ba­tion on the bur­glary charge. Judge Arthur Gam­ble said the charges will be wiped off Edwards’ record if he suc­cess­fully com­pletes probation.

Edwards’ attor­ney said he suf­fers from post trau­matic stress dis­or­der after serv­ing in Afghanistan and Iraq. His wife and infant son were also killed in a crash years ago.

Friends and for­mer col­leagues said those fac­tors prob­a­bly led to his drug use.

“I feel that any deci­sion the court made was a good deci­sion,” said Adam Choat of the Pleas­ant Hill Police Depart­ment. “Peo­ple make mis­takes. We just hope we can move on from all this.”

He said peo­ple in the com­mu­nity have been supportive.

“We haven’t had any neg­a­tiv­ity,” Choat said.

Drake Uni­ver­sity Law Pro­fes­sor Bill Rigg said courts don’t care whether some­one is a law enforce­ment offi­cer or not.

“The idea that you’re going to get a favor because you’re in law enforce­ment, don’t bet on that,” he said. “In fact, you’re going to get a harder eye by the court if you’re law enforce­ment than you would if you were an aver­age citizen.”

Edwards must also undergo a sub­stance abuse ther­apy program.

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

Des Moines Reg­is­ter
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Pleas­ant Hill, IA

A for­mer Pleas­ant Hill police offi­cer who stole metham­phet­a­mine from an evi­dence room and crashed his squad car pleaded guilty Thurs­day to drug and bur­glary charges.

For­mer Sgt. Daniel Hebert Edwards, 42, pleaded guilty to pos­ses­sion of a con­trolled sub­stance, oper­at­ing while intox­i­cated, and third-degree bur­glary. His sen­tenc­ing was set for Sept. 29 in Polk County Dis­trict Court.

Edwards was charged shortly after he crashed his cruiser near U.S. High­way 65 and East Uni­ver­sity Avenue on April 1.

Edwards first drove through a ditch along the on-ramp to the U.S. High­way 65 bypass, then struck another vehi­cle and col­lided with a cen­ter con­crete bar­rier. He then drove back into a ditch, with his car com­ing to rest against a fence.

Edwards was fired after tox­i­col­ogy tests showed metham­phet­a­mine in his system.

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