Pubdate: Wed, 28 Sep 2005
Source: Charlotte Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2005 The Charlotte Observer
Contact:  http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/78
Author: Jen Aronoff, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)

A $9,000 'ERROR IN JUDGMENT'

Inside Job Ruled Out in Money That Vanished From Sheriff's Office

In the nine months since someone walked out of the Catawba County
Sheriff's Office with $9,000 in seized drug money, authorities still
haven't found who took it.

They don't know how it disappeared.

And they have no idea where it is now.

But the State Bureau of Investigation wrapped up its inquiry into the
theft last week and has reached at least one conclusion:

No one from the Sheriff's Office swiped the cash.

The Sheriff's Office does not plan to punish anyone about the missing
money, though the employee under whose watch it disappeared has been
reassigned, Sheriff David Huffman said Tuesday.

"It was just an error in judgment," Huffman said. "He just left it
layin'."

Huffman has been the county's sheriff for 24 years, and he said the
department has never lost money or property, "not a dime," due to
something like this.

Until now.

The $9,000 was seized in December 2004 as part of a drug raid at a
home in southern Catawba County, and it was labeled and placed in a
paper bag once it arrived at the Sheriff's Office, Huffman said.

It was supposed to end up locked in the evidence room. Instead, a
technician left it sitting on a bookshelf -- in a busy room where
members of the public were coming and going, Huffman said.

No one's quite sure what happened after that, Huffman said,
particularly as the office was lightly staffed because of holiday vacations.

But it wasn't until May, when an officer went to retrieve the money to
turn over to the IRS, that the department realized it was gone -- and
wasn't listed on the evidence inventory sheet.

After a search of the evidence room and an internal inquiry turned up
nothing, the department asked the SBI to look into the
disappearance.

The sheriff said he was "absolutely" embarrassed and disappointed by
the theft.

"You're responsible for your people and what they do," he
said.

Meanwhile, the Sheriff's Office has strengthened its evidence handling
and storage policies.

Now, a witness must be present when evidence is placed in the secure
room, and two inspectors, not one, will conduct the annual inventory
of the room.

In addition, at least two people must be in the evidence room when it
is in use, and one must be a supervisor or the evidence technician.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake