IAPE Evidence Blog

New York Mag­a­zine, nymag.com
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Bronx, NY

A packed sub­way car, Hardware’s favorite place to mas­tur­bate. Photo: Chris Hondros/Getty Images

In the annals of sub­way per­ver­sion, Dar­nell Hard­ware of the Bronx has to be one of the most heinous offend­ers. Pros­e­cu­tors say that in three inci­dents between 2002 and 2005, Hard­ware pulled out his “hard­ware” on a packed sub­way train, rubbed it against a young woman appar­ently until he cli­maxed, and then escaped when the train doors opened. Accord­ing to DNA Info:

Pros­e­cu­tors said his alleged vic­tims, a 24-year-old, 22-year-old and a 17-year-old high school stu­dent, were trapped in the packed cars and help­less to escape because they could not move away from Hard­ware even as dozens of wit­nesses looked on.

The fact that nobody on these packed trains con­fronted Hard­ware as he assaulted these women, or appre­hended him before he could bolt, is pretty depress­ing. But where bystanders failed, semen pre­vailed. Hard­ware was finally con­nected to the inci­dents last month when he was forced to sub­mit a DNA swab for an unre­lated drug charge. I knew it was you, semen. You broke my heart.

Ser­ial Sub­way Sex Abuser Car­ried Out String of Attacks, DA Says [DNA Info]

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

Gothamist LLC, gothamist, gothamist.com
BYLINE: Christo­pher Rob­bins, tips@gothamist.com
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Long Island, NY

AP

Mar­i­juana bound for a Penn­syl­va­nia crime lab to be tested in a Long Island drug case mys­te­ri­ously dis­ap­peared from the FedEx truck it was on, mak­ing any charges “com­pletely unprov­able.” The drugs were being shipped to Penn­syl­va­nia to be tested after a Nas­sau County crime lab was shut down in Feb­ru­ary for wide­spread pro­ce­dural vio­la­tions. An offi­cial tells CBS, “It just calls into ques­tion the pro­pri­ety of deal­ing with a com­mon car­rier, like FedEx, for pur­poses of deliv­er­ing evi­dence.” Author­i­ties say that the mar­i­juana was removed from the ship­ping box, and then the box was resealed. No word on whether the truck’s mas­sive ship­ment of Fun­yuns and six cases of Mondo Cool­ers were also missing.

Miss­ing evi­dence is only part of the fall­out that has accom­pa­nied the Mine­ola drug lab fiasco. Recently a drunk dri­ving case was voided based on shoddy lab work done, and vir­tu­ally every case involv­ing the lab since 2007 may be tossed because as one lawyer tells the Times, “When you con­vict some­body based on tainted evi­dence, that con­vic­tion gen­er­ally should not and will not stand.” Indeed, even if just the mar­i­juana was taken from the FedEx truck, “It raises a broader issue about the cred­i­bil­ity of the evi­dence in those other cases that were being trans­ported along with the mar­i­juana,” the offi­cial says. 

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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

Kingston, NY

A for­mer lieu­tenant with the Kingston city police is accused of steal­ing more than $200,000 from the depart­ment and the county. 

Pros­e­cu­tors accused retired Detec­tive Lt. Tim­o­thy Matthews of steal­ing from evi­dence lock­ers and drug-bust oper­a­tions as an Ulster County grand jury handed up a 13-count indict­ment Mon­day. Charges against the 49-year-old retiree include grand lar­ceny, fal­si­fy­ing busi­ness records and schem­ing to defraud the government.

Pros­e­cu­tors say Matthews stole $130,000 from the Kingston Police Depart­ment, $79,000 from Ulster County through his role in a gang nar­cotics task force and $3,000 from Ulster Sav­ings Bank.

Matthews’ attor­ney said his client “adamantly denies the allegations.”

Matthews will be arraigned Wednes­day. If con­victed, he faces 5 to 15 years in prison.

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