IAPE Evidence Blog

Durant Daily Demo­c­rat, durantdemocrat.com is in Durant, OK
BYLINE:
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Caddo, OK

A pre­lim­i­nary hear­ing has been set for the for­mer Caddo police chief accused of steal­ing a firearm from the department’s evi­dence locker.

Dur­ing a court con­fer­ence Wednes­day for Troy Glover, a pre­lim­i­nary hear­ing was set for March 8.

Glover, 38, was charged Dec. 12 with embez­zle­ment fol­low­ing an inves­ti­ga­tion by the Okla­homa State Bureau of Inves­ti­ga­tion into alle­ga­tions that Glover took a revolver that had been seized in a traf­fic stop and traded it to a man for another firearm.

Caddo Coun­cil ter­mi­nated Glover dur­ing a spe­cial meet­ing last month.

Glover is free on bond.

In other crimes, Bryan County sheriff’s deputies have been busy inves­ti­gat­ing thefts dur­ing the past few days.

Rick Lay­mon, Fore­man for Bryan County Dis­trict No. 3, told Deputy Vinny Cacace that approx­i­mately 50 gal­lons of diesel fuel was stolen out of a road grader parked at the Old Blue Store.

A hay hauler owned by Dou­glas Parks was stolen at Eagle Lake Bot­tom Road, accord­ing to a report by Deputy Joey Wel­ton Tucker. The hauler had dual hay spikes and sil­ver rims, and was val­ued at $400.

Deputy Cacace inves­ti­gated a bur­glary of a res­i­dence in the 3600 block of Silo Road. Crys­tal Pittman said that when she came home, she dis­cov­ered he husband’s bow was miss­ing from the garage. After enter­ing the house, she saw that a com­puter, and sev­eral firearms had been stolen. There was no sign of forced entry.

A washer and dryer was stolen from Jes­sica Hamill’s trailer home in the 2700 block of North First Avenue. She told Deputy Cacace that when she arrived home, she saw that her front door was unlocked and a win­dow had been opened.

Numer­ous items, includ­ing car­bu­re­tors and wheels, have been stolen from Jerry Dickerson’s prop­erty on Maxwell Road, accord­ing to a report by Deputy Cacace. In a writ­ten state­ment, Dick­er­son said the thefts had been hap­pen­ing over the last four years.

A tool box con­tain­ing numer­ous tools was stolen out of the Joseph Dou­glas Woods’ pickup in the 800 block of Upper West River Road, accord­ing to a report by Deputy Frank Burrola.

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

World­Now and KOTV, NewsOn6.com, newson6.com
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Cush­ing, OK

Dal­ton Dash Brown

CUSHING, Okla­homa — Agents with the Okla­homa State Bureau of Inves­ti­ga­tion arrested a man they say broke into a police sta­tion and stole prop­erty from the evi­dence room.

Police in Cush­ing, Okla­homa got a call about a door open on a vacant apart­ment right next to the Cush­ing police evi­dence room.

Offi­cers found that some­one had busted through the wall and into a room where they store evi­dence. Police quickly dis­cov­ered items from the prop­erty room were missing.

They tracked the break-in to Cush­ing res­i­dent, 26-year-old Dal­ton Dash Brown. He was arrested at the Payne County Cour­t­house while he was appear­ing on another bur­glary case.

After a two-day audit, police are con­fi­dent they’ve recov­ered the stolen evidence.

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

The Okla­homan, NewsOK.com newsok.com
BYLINE: TIM WILLERT twillert@opubco.com
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Edmond, OK

Okla­homa author­i­ties have accused the for­mer police offi­cer of tak­ing $8,000 that had been placed in evi­dence dur­ing a drug investigation.

BENJAMIN NORTHCUTT: Ben­jamin C. North­cutt, 35, for­mer Edmond police offi­cer arrested in con­nec­tion with the theft of $8,000 in evi­dence money ORG XMIT: 1104142233544841

A judge has ordered a for­mer Edmond police offi­cer to stand trial on a charge that he stole $8,000 from an evi­dence locker.

Ben­jamin C. North­cutt, 36, is charged in Okla­homa County Dis­trict Court with grand lar­ceny in the alleged theft of money from the Edmond Police Depart­ment on Aug. 11.

After hear­ing tes­ti­mony Tues­day from sev­eral wit­nesses, Okla­homa County Spe­cial Judge D. Fred Doak deter­mined there was enough prob­a­ble cause to send North­cutt to trial even though he called the cir­cum­stan­tial evi­dence against him “thin.”

The $8,000 was con­fis­cated dur­ing a drug inves­ti­ga­tion Aug. 10, at 2608 Wind­hill Road. North­cutt was in the report room when the money was counted and pack­aged before it was placed in an evi­dence locker, accord­ing to court records.

A police inves­ti­ga­tor tes­ti­fied Tues­day dur­ing Northcutt’s pre­lim­i­nary hear­ing that the for­mer offi­cer can be seen on video 14 times, enter­ing and exit­ing the report room where the money was stored.

Edmond police Sgt. Tom Custer said North­cutt looked at the cam­era on each occa­sion and up and down a hall­way, actions he called “suspicious.”

On cross-examination, Custer said the cam­eras were posi­tioned out­side the report room and that he never saw North­cutt take any money.

Custer tes­ti­fied that only two offi­cers were in that report room after the money was placed in the locker.

“Only one knew the money existed in the locker,” Custer said, “and that was Northcutt.”

The police inves­ti­ga­tor tes­ti­fied that North­cutt had “money trou­bles” and his bank account had been closed.

North­cutt attor­ney Scott Adams argued there is “absolutely no evi­dence” that his client took the money.

“If there’s ever been a case where there is no prob­a­ble cause, this is it,” Adams said.

North­cutt, a for­mer patrol offi­cer, was fired March 21. He began work at the police depart­ment Dec. 13, 2004, said Anita Breen, Edmond human resource director.

North­cutt is free on bond.

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