Pubdate: Fri, 06 May 2005
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2005 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact:  http://www.boston.com/globe/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Ralph Ranalli
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)

STATE POLICE DRUG PROCEDURES AT ISSUE

Former Unit Head Testifies At Trial Of Ex-Sergeant

DEDHAM -- The former head of the embattled State Police Narcotics 
Inspection Unit admitted under oath yesterday that he violated his own 
orders and failed to properly document a large batch of seized marijuana 
destined for the drug evidence bunker.

Lieutenant Michael Kelly testified at the trial of former sergeant Timothy 
White, who prosecutors say stole up to 27 pounds of cocaine that was 
supposed to have been destroyed. The inadequate policies and sloppy 
procedures in the narcotics inspection unit during Kelly's tenure have 
become a focus of the trial. Prosecutors and defense lawyers are using them 
to make their case. In the trial that began this week in Norfolk Superior 
Court, state prosecutors have alleged that lax procedures and supervision 
in the unit allowed White to steal drugs with impunity.

Defense lawyer Robert George, meanwhile, has argued that the records are 
too unreliable to prove White's guilt and that a common practice of 
troopers storing drug evidence in their homes overnight allowed White's 
wife, Maura, to steal them.

White, 42, is charged with attempted murder -- accused of holding a gun to 
his wife's head -- plus cocaine trafficking, marijuana and ecstasy 
distribution, as well as eight other related charges. Beginning in the fall 
of 2002, prosecutors allege, White and his wife began to deal large 
quantities of cocaine with Robert Crisafulli, 49, of Hyde Park, and Nancy 
White, a family friend who is not related to the couple.

Kelly was replaced as commander, and the narcotics unit came under scrutiny 
after the allegations against White surfaced. Yesterday, Kelly testified 
that when he took over the unit, there were no written procedures for the 
sergeants who picked up seized drugs at State Police barracks around the 
state and brought them back to the drug bunker at State Police headquarters 
in Framingham. The sergeants assigned to the unit were in charge of keeping 
an inventory of the drugs and destroying them at an incinerator in Millbury 
after they were no longer needed as evidence.

"Is it fair to say that the record-keeping in your unit was lax at best 
when you arrived?" George asked Kelly.

"It did not meet up with my personal standards," Kelly replied. Kelly 
testified yesterday that he tried to firm up the standards in the unit. But 
he also said that, because of manpower shortages, he was sometimes forced 
to break a longstanding rule that no trooper would be allowed to transport 
drugs to the bunker from outlying barracks alone.

George, however, used the department's records to question Kelly's 
assertion. George showed the jury a copy of a report that said Kelly took 
possession of 13 marijuana plants seized by the US Drug Enforcement Agency 
in 2002. Kelly admitted that there was no corresponding entry on the drug 
bunker's entry log for that day showing that he brought the drugs to 
Framingham. Kelly insisted that he did turn in the drugs.

"But, just from the paperwork, doesn't it appear that the drugs were never 
returned?" George said.

"It does look like I never signed the ledger," Kelly replied. "But I know 
for a fact that I did turn them in."

Kelly also denied that he allowed troopers to take drugs home with them, 
despite an assertion by George that a female sergeant under his command 
told internal affairs investigators that he did.

Kelly testified yesterday that procedures were tightened and staffing in 
the unit was tripled after his departure.

A State Police spokeswoman declined to confirm that yesterday or comment on 
the current procedures for safeguarding drug evidence. Kelly also testified 
that he participated in a search of Timothy and Maura White's home after 
the sergeant was arrested on charges that he held his service pistol to his 
wife's head in January 2003.

Kelly said various drugs were found in the home, including cocaine and 15 
yellow ecstasy pills marked with a Volkswagen "VW" logo. He said those 
pills matched the description of ecstasy pills missing from the bunker 
after White's arrest. Under questioning from George, Kelly also said the 
pills were found in Maura White's jewelry box and that Timothy White had 
not been in the home for 11 days before the search.

Maura White and Nancy White have been given immunity from prosecution in 
return for their cooperation with prosecutors. Crisafulli agreed to a deal 
with prosecutors for his testimony.
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