IAPE Evidence Blog

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, The Repub­lic, therepublic.com

Vin­ton, LA

LAKE CHARLES, La. — The sen­tenc­ing of a for­mer Vin­ton assis­tant police chief who pleaded guilty to malfea­sance in Novem­ber has been moved to October.

Accord­ing to the Amer­i­can Press, 36-year-old Chad Porter­field was arrested in Decem­ber 2008 for steal­ing over $150,000 from the Vin­ton Police Department.

Audi­tors said the miss­ing cash came from the department’s evi­dence room and traf­fic stop funds.

Porterfield’s sen­tenc­ing is set for Oct. 21.

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

Cap­i­tal City Press LLC, The Advo­cate, theadvocate.com
BYLINE: C.J. FUTCH, River Parishes bureau
Link to Article

Assump­tion Parish, LA

NAPOLEONVILLE — A for­mer Assump­tion Parish sheriff’s lieu­tenant will serve five years in prison, fol­lowed by five years of super­vised pro­ba­tion, for tam­per­ing with evi­dence in hun­dreds of nar­cotics cases, 23rd Judi­cial Dis­trict Judge Jane Triche-Milazzo ruled on Thursday.

Louis Lam­bert, 46, of Labadieville, who over­saw the Sheriff’s Office evi­dence vault, pleaded guilty in May to more than 400 charges, includ­ing 336 counts of malfea­sance and 102 other counts that include drug, weapons and theft charges.

Though Triche-Milazzo imposed a prison term for all 438 counts, the sen­tences will run con­cur­rently, not back-to-back. Lam­bert was assigned the most time, 10 years, for ille­gal pos­ses­sion of a firearm. Five years of that sen­tence was sus­pended, leav­ing five years to be served with no pos­si­bil­ity of parole.

“We’re dis­ap­pointed,” said Dis­trict Attor­ney Ricky Babin, “but we respect the court’s deci­sion. We had to spend time track­ing down defense attor­neys in 500-plus cases. We were required to notify each one that may have been affected.”

Pros­e­cu­tors said in a May news release that very few cases had to be dis­missed because of the tampering.

The court also imposed more than $69,000 in fines, accord­ing to the rul­ing, and ordered Lam­bert to pay nearly $22,000 in resti­tu­tion to Babin’s office, Louisiana State Police and the Sheriff’s Office for expenses incurred as a result of the case.

Lam­bert removed drugs and other items from evi­dence to sup­port a sub­stance abuse prob­lem, accord­ing to court documents.

Last year, altered drug evi­dence dis­cov­ered in one case trig­gered a three-month inves­ti­ga­tion that uncov­ered the rest.

Lam­bert attrib­utes his addic­tion in part to the time he spent in com­bat while serv­ing with the U.S. Army, and a seri­ous car crash in 1999 that left him bedrid­den for 13 months, the rul­ing stated. Lam­bert enrolled in a reha­bil­i­ta­tion cen­ter just after an inves­ti­ga­tion opened into alle­ga­tions of offi­cial mis­con­duct against Lambert.

Lam­bert will serve his time at the Mar­tin L. Forcht Jr. Clin­i­cal Treat­ment Cen­ter Unit in Caddo Parish, run by the Louisiana Depart­ment of Corrections.

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

The Asso­ci­ated Press State & Local Wire, The Adver­tiser, http://www.theadvertiser.com

Krotz Springs, LA

Author­i­ties say a Krotz Springs Police Depart­ment dis­patcher is accused of allow­ing two inmates into the police evi­dence room, where they took ille­gal drugs. 

St. Landry Parish Sher­iff Bobby J. Guidroz says dis­patcher Amanda Nail has been booked with malfea­sance and sim­ple burglary.

Guidroz says the two inmates, Jes­sica Courville and Michael Ster­mer, were booked with sim­ple burglary.

The sher­iff tells The Adver­tiser Nall allegedly shut off the lights in the vicin­ity of the evi­dence room in an attempt to hide activ­ity from secu­rity cam­eras. Ster­mer allegedly pried open the door to the evi­dence room and, after the door was opened, Courville and Ster­mer entered the room and removed an unde­ter­mined amount of ille­gal narcotics.

Guidroz says the inves­ti­ga­tion remains open and an addi­tional arrest is expected.

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