Pubdate: Fri, 25 Mar 2005
Source: Knoxville News-Sentinel (TN)
Copyright: 2005 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.
Contact:  http://www.knoxnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/226
Author: Jamie Satterfield
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

MORGAN SHERIFF DEFENDS AGENCY

Department's Handling Of Drugs Criticized By DA

Morgan County Sheriff Bobby Gibson on Thursday issued a written
statement defending his agency's handling of drug evidence in the wake
of a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation probe.

In the statement, Gibson said he had a policy on how drug evidence was
to be handled, but things did not always go according to plan.

"It has always been the policy of this department to secure drugs
and evidence in the main vault as quickly as possible," Gibson wrote.
"There are times in most departments when no one is there to accept
the evidence. Then, officers secure it in their trunks until it can be
turned in."

Gibson did not address the six bags of suspected methamphetamine that
are missing from his agency's evidence room or allegations that other
drugs remain unaccounted for.

Ninth Judicial District Attorney General Scott McCluen has said a TBI
probe he ordered in January revealed that six bags of what
field-tested positive for methamphetamine were missing from Gibson's
evidence room.

Other drugs listed by deputies as seized in various cases could not be
located, McCluen said.

In an interview, McCluen said evidence handling at the Morgan County
Sheriff's Department was so "bad" that it would be next to impossible
to either prove or rule out theft of the missing drugs.

McCluen said he has been forced to dismiss charges in the meth case.
Other cases also are at risk as a result of drug evidence handling
problems, he said.

He described incidents in which seized drugs were stowed in patrol
cars for months at a time and even stashed behind file cabinets.

Gibson said in his written release that the state of his agency's
evidence handling procedures was not as bad as McCluen indicated. He
attributed some problems to limited space.

"Part of the problem came from our previous office location not having
a place to put in a temporary holding box," the sheriff wrote. "In our
new location, there is space available for that."

Gibson also said there was nothing suspicious about an explanation
given to the TBI for some missing powder believed to be meth. The TBI
was told that the powder at issue was found among suspected meth lab
equipment and had been turned over to a hazardous materials clean-up
crew.

"A lot of this evidence came from early in the meth lab era, and there
were many questions about what was hazardous and how dangerous it was
to handle," Gibson wrote.

He did not say, however, whether someone was charged with possessing
that powder. If charges were filed, that substance would become
evidence subject to testing by both prosecutors and defense attorneys.

"The Morgan County Sheriff's Department takes the security of all
evidence very seriously," Gibson wrote. "There has been a few
procedures changed with regard to this investigation, but we have
managed to keep thousands of pieces of evidence and records secure for
many years and will continue to do so in the future."
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