BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - A former employee of the state crime lab in Missoula is suspected of stealing drugs collected as evidence by law enforcement agencies, affecting criminal proceedings across the state, the Attorney General’s office said.
The thefts between September 2014 and June 2015 have forced prosecutors to drop drug charges in at least 50 cases, state officials said. The technician suspected in the thefts was fired from the lab in June, The Billings Gazette (https://bit.ly/1Xi28Pw) reported. No charges have been filed against the technician, who was a former police officer.
The thefts are being investigated by the state Division of Criminal Investigation.
The crime lab was forced to contact prosecutors across the state about the tampering in case any evidence was affected, said Deputy Chief of Criminal Operations Ed Zink.
“We moved to dismiss counts that were affected,” Zink said. “If all the evidence in a case was affected, we dismissed the entire case. If one count in a case was affected and the rest of the evidence was intact, then we proceeded with the balance of the case.”
The issue came to light when drug charges were dismissed in the case of a Billings man who also was charged punching a police officer while being arrested at a Billings casino. Officers found he was carrying a gun and drugs suspected to be oxycodone. The drugs were sent to the crime lab for identification. He was convicted of assaulting a police officer.
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Information from: The Billings Gazette, https://www.billingsgazette.com
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