Archive for the 'Virginia' Category
Pershing Park evidence mishandled, probe finds
December 8, 2009Washington Examiner
BYLINE: Michael Neibauer, Examiner Staff Writer, mneibauer@washingtonexaminer.com
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Pershing Park, VA
An independent investigation of missing evidence tied to the September 2002 mass arrests at Pershing Park found that a detailed tally of D.C. police actions that day probably did exist but was either purposefully purged or lost.
Retired U.S. District Court Judge Stanley Sporkin called “troubling” the “contradictory evidence that surfaced” during his pro bono inquiry into the missing police running resume of the events of Sept. 27, 2002, and gaps in police radio recordings.
“The whole thing has been so ineptly handled and now we have pretty clear indications that some of it had to be intentional destruction,” Ward 3 D.C. Councilwoman Mary Cheh told The Examiner on Monday. “I don’t see how this can’t be a disaster for the District.”
D.C. police officers arrested hundreds of anti-World Bank protesters and innocent bystanders in Pershing Park, hog-tied their left wrists to their right ankles and detained them for up to 36 hours in some cases.
“We are particularly disturbed by the fact that not only have we been unable to retrieve a hard copy of the Running Resume but also that the electronic copy was purged from the system,” Sporkin wrote in his report, dated Friday. “We have no way of knowing whether this was an act of intentional mischief or reflects a benign action.”
That said, Sporkin found no evidence of any “overt attempt to deceive or mislead us.”
Both the running resume and radio recordings would be key testimonials in a pair of lawsuits filed against the District alleging wrongful arrests. The cases are currently before U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan, who has admonished D.C. attorneys for their courtroom tactics and failure to turn over critical documents.
Only one person interviewed during Sporkin’s investigation recalled seeing a copy of the running resume — Rai Howell, former acting director of the Metropolitan Police Department’s quality assurance division. But Howell could remember few other details.
Police Chief Charles Ramsey told investigators he was “99 percent sure” he did not see the running resume. George Crawford, a Metropolitan Police Department computer specialist, said it is “hard to believe” the document was “overwritten” in the system or that every hard copy was all destroyed.
Ramsey, who was alleged by a police detective to have ordered the mass arrests, also said he “knows nothing about the radio tapes and gave no instructions to edit or otherwise alter them.” The tapes, Sporkin concluded, do have gaps but investigators were unable to discern how they occurred. He recommended that the District retain a forensic expert.
D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles Monday praised the investigation, but said he has not yet decided whether to follow through on Sporkin’s suggestions.
“I just need to get a better understanding from [Sporkin] to understand how difficult it will be,” Nickles said. “I don’t know whether it’s feasible or how much it costs.”
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International Association for Property and Evidence
“Law Enforcement Serving the Needs of Law Enforcement“
www.IAPE.org
www.wtkr.com
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York County, VA
Reports say crucial evidence in Colonial Parkway murders may have been destroyed
YORK COUNTY — After a weeklong search for missing evidence from the first Colonial Parkway killings, law-enforcement officials located records showing the two small boxes were destroyed at the FBI’s suggestion in 1994. But it is the unusual eight-year path the evidence traveled before destruction? passing from the medical examiner’s office to a York County investigator who never asked for it? that’s sparked worry among family members. They fear other crucial material has been mishandled or lost.
“Now we are just learning that they’ve destroyed what could have been valuable evidence after hanging onto it for eight years,” said Bill Thomas, brother of Cathleen Thomas who was among the first couple murdered. “There is no way to demonstrate the depths of my family’s frustration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
At the Oct., 1986, autopsies of Cathleen Thomas and Rebecca Dowski, a medical examiner collected swabs that would determine if the women, found fully clothed, had been raped. Neither were.
The women were discovered in Thomas’ small Honda, shoved off a Colonial Parkway bluff. The killer slit their throats. They were the first in a series of slayings and disappearances that became known as “The Parkway Murders.” The killings stopped in 1989.
Norfolk FBI spokeswoman Vanessa Torres said in a statement Friday because the women were not sexually assaulted, the Physical Evidence Recovery Kits assembled by the medical examiner “did not contain evidence of value.” That’s why the FBI never took the kits.
Dr. Angela Williamson, director of forensic casework for Bode Technology, a private laboratory specializing in DNA science, said the FBI’s decision “seems logical.”
However, the strange way the kits ended up in a York County evidence room six years after collection has caused concern for Bill Thomas. The FBI has promised advanced testing on the old evidence, but Bill Thomas says he cannot convince the agency to reveal what evidence still exists.
“After 23 long years, I would say we’re mildly hopeful,” said Bill Thomas, speaking from Los Angeles. “However, all of this is provided the FBI has properly stored and hung onto this valuable evidence.”
Recently, the Thomas family received from the state a full accounting of evidence recovered at Cathleen Thomas’ autopsy, including strands of hair found in Cathleen Thomas’ hand; a small section of rope somehow left behind after the killer cut the cord from Thomas’ neck; and nail clippings that could contain the killer’s DNA if Thomas managed to touch or scratch her attacker.
Autopsy photographs leaked by the FBI and later obtained by NewsChannel 3 show the two-inch rope fragment tangled in Cathleen Thomas’ hair. The photographs also show Cathleen suffered a knife wound to her left thumb, possibly indicating she struggled with the killer. Her brother, Bill Thomas, said the hair found in his sister’s hand must either be Dowski’s or the killer’s.
In an earlier telephone interview with NewsChannel 3, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Leah Bush said evidence collected at the Colonial Parkway autopsies more than two decades ago could yield leads when subjected to new DNA science.
Dr. Bush and her predecessor, Dr. Marcella Fierro, are reviewing all the autopsies at the request of the families. That review sparked the search last week for the missing evidence. Richmond records show the two Physical Evidence Recorvery Kits, or PERKs, were given to a York County investigator in 1992, but York County officials last week could not recall a reason to request that evidence.
However, days later, Maj. Ron Montgomery of the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office said reviews of case files showed an investigator traveled to the medical examiner’s office in 1992 to retrieve skeletal remains from a separate case. The Colonial Parkway evidence kits were somehow included with the remains, Montgomery said. He doesn’t know how or why.
According to Montgomery, when the investigator realized he had the kits, he put them in an evidence room and contacted the FBI. Montgomery said the investigator placed calls to agents over a two-year period until March, 1996, when an agent suggested the boxes be destroyed.
Vanessa Torres, a spokeswoman for the Norfolk FBI, said agents did not retrieve the evidence because it was not helpful to the case.
The PERKS “… did not contain evidence of value inasmuch as neither victim was sexually assaulted. This finding was made by the state,” Torres wrote. “Therefore, the FBI did not take possession of the kits.”
Bill Thomas is pressing the FBI to reveal whether the other evidence taken from his sister’s autopsy still exists, and if so, when it will be tested.
“I cannot get a straightforward answer from them in terms of, do they still have this evidence, and when do they play to move forward with the advanced testing they promised us,” he said.
Torres would not discuss any specific pieces of evidence, saying only “all evidence of value collected by the FBI or turned over to the FBI regarding this investigation has been maintained and remains stored.”
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International Association for Property and Evidence
“Law Enforcement Serving the Needs of Law Enforcement“
www.IAPE.org
Evidence clerk charged with stealing cash
July 22, 2009Culpeper, VA
A former Culpeper Police Department civilian employee was arrested Tuesday, accused of stealing money from a wallet police were holding as unclaimed property. RP, 41, of the 19000 block of York Road in Stevensburg, is charged with felony money laundering and embezzlement while serving as a government employee. He is accused of stealing $300, according to town spokesman Wally Bunker.
RP had been the department’s property and evidence custodian since April 2005 but resigned in May. His resignation was not connected to Tuesday’s charges, said Capt. Ricky Pinksaw.
The alleged crime came to light May 12, said Bunker, when another officer was temporarily placed in charge of the property and evidence section until the department hired a new property custodian. Pinksaw said it is department policy to conduct an audit when the property and evidence custodian’s position is vacated.
While conducting an audit, Bunker said, the officer noticed a wallet in an unsealed bag on the desk in RP’ former office. The office is not located in the secured room where evidence is stored.
“The result of the audit was that $300 was missing from property,” Pinksaw said.
Bunker said records indicate the wallet, which contained $304 in cash, a debit card, a West Virginia identification card, and other items, was originally reported stolen in October 2006 by a 56-year-old Culpeper County woman.
In December 2006, the wallet, containing the cash and other items, was found and turned in. Police said attempts to contact the owner have been unsuccessful. “This is an unfortunate incident,” Pinksaw said. “However, our mission is to protect and serve the citizens. When property comes into police custody, it should remain here in custody until it is turned over to the rightful owner. Mr. RP was entrusted to do his duty as the property and evidence custodian, and he broke the public and department’s trust.
“The department discovered the crime and thoroughly investigated it,” Pinksaw continued. “The agency took a proactive stance to bring Mr. RP to justice.” Capt. Chris Jenkins said RP is not suspected in any other wrongdoing and has cooperated with investigators. RP is free on $3,000 bond and is scheduled for arraignment in General District court on Aug. 6 at 8:30 a.m.
RP could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon. A phone number listed for his residence was disconnected.
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International Association for Property and Evidence
“Law Enforcement Serving the Needs of Law Enforcement“
www.IAPE.org