Thousands of people — defense attorneys estimate 4,000 to 5,000, while prosecutors say fewer than 3,600 — were convicted using evidence processed by the Police Department's forensics lab between 2004 and 2016, Enter Article DATE HERE The shuttering of the Austin Police Department's forensics lab after an audit found unscientific protocols and ...

Swanson is accused of stealing between $1,500 and $25,000 in cash that was seized in evidence at the sheriff's office Enter Article DATE HERE ABILENE — Former Dickinson County Sheriff's Lt. Greg Swanson is scheduled to make a first appearance in Dickinson County District Court in October on felony charges of theft, official misconduct and crim...

Evidence software manufacturers are implementing systems that save time and improve operational efficiency for both police officers and evidence personnel July 31, 2017 When it comes to managing evidence and securing chain of custody, police departments are increasingly relying on software systems. Though there may be some type of paper trail retai...

Enter Headline here August 5, 2017 DALLAS — Former Ellis County Sheriff's Lt. Philip Slaughter entered a guilty plea for his role in a gun theft in the United States District Court in Dallas late last week. Slaughter, who entered the plea on July 28, took responsibly for stealing and selling firearms from the sheriff's office property room during h...

Six people with connections to the City of Meridian testified in a hearing regarding a potential breach of the police evidence room. July 24, 1017 MERIDIAN, TX (KXXV) - On Monday, six people with connections to the City of Meridian testified in a hearing regarding a potential breach of the police evidence room. The Bosque County District Attorney A...

Rowles said he also believes that the former sheriff mislead a district judge into signing an order to destroy the evidence, and he has called in the Texas Rangers to investigate May 17, 207 NEWTON COUNTY — Newton County Sheriff Billy Rowles announced on Monday that it has been discovered that evidence in active criminal cases was destroyed in Dece...

Two former Ellis County Sheriff's Office deputies have admitted to stealing and selling guns they took from the sheriff's office property room. July 12, 2017 WAXAHACHIE – Two former Ellis County Sheriff's Office deputies have admitted to stealing and selling guns they took from the sheriff's office property room. Former ECSO Lt. Philip Gary Slaught...

Lt. Philip Gary Slaughter II is set to enter a guilty plea for his role an alleged gun thef Enter Article DATE HERE WAXAHACHIE — Former Ellis County Sheriff's Office Lt. Philip Gary Slaughter II is set to enter a guilty plea for his role an alleged gun theft. He allegedly stole and sold firearms from the sheriff's office property room and has ...

An audit found that of 1,629 cases stored in the refrigerator, 849 showed some signs of mold on the outside. Enter Article DATE HERE Hundreds of sexual assault kits in Austin police storage have been determined to have mold growing on the outside of them, prompting officials to seek guidance from state and national experts about how to properl...

With the passage of a bill establishing a tracking system for evidence in sex assault cases, Texas has become the first state to implement comprehensive rape kit reforms. June 15, 2017 AUSTIN — With the passage of a bill establishing a tracking system for evidence in sex assault cases, Texas has become the first state to implement comprehensive rap...

The sheriff's statement says cold case investigators in 2014 began reviewing the death and linked DNA evidence to Edds, April 27, 2017 HOUSTON - Investigators say a review of DNA evidence in the 1976 fatal stabbing of a Houston man has led to an arrest nearly 41 years later. According to the Harris County Sheriff's Office, David Lee Edds, 61, was t...

Investigators say a review of DNA evidence in the 1976 fatal stabbing of a Houston man has led to a warrant issued for a convicted killer in a later case April 24, 2017 HOUSTON (AP) - Investigators say a review of DNA evidence in the 1976 fatal stabbing of a Houston man has led to a warrant issued for a convicted killer in a later case. The Harris ...

Standardizing the rape kits would reduce the chance of contamination and make for a faster and more efficient process, she said. Enter Article DATE HERE All rape kits are not created equal. There are multiple vendors. Some law enforcement agencies buy them off the shelf. Some of the larger departments have manufacturers customize them for thei...

The review of 88 cases done by the officer determined that 65 had incomplete documentation, 32 had administrative errors and in eight cases, evidence had been misplaced. April 12, 2017 HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A Houston police officer working as a crime-scene investigator made errors in 65 cases dating back to October 2015, according to a scathing audit r...

Texas is considering asking drivers to help it clear its huge backlog of untested rape kits, a novel approach that has been well received by cost-conscious Republican lawmakers and one that other states might consider April 5, 2017 AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas is considering asking drivers to help it clear its huge backlog of untested rape kits, a no...

About 200 past and current cases could be affected, Mitchell said during a news conference Monday afternoon February 6, 2017 Temple police Detective Jason Jordan was suspended indefinitely Monday after an internal investigation that started in September into his processing, storage, documented return and release of evidence and recovered property i...

The officer, Tavis Cuthrell, 26, was booked into the Falls County Jail on a warrant charging theft of firearm by a public servant, a third-degree felony. January 24, 2017 MARLIN — A Marlin Police Department officer was arrested Monday on a Falls County arrest warrant that alleges he stole at least one firearm, according to the Texas Department of P...

A jury in July found him guilty of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. December 22, 2016 McALLEN, Texas (AP) — A former South Texas police officer has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for stealing cocaine and then staging a fake bust to cover up the theft. Former Mission police offic...

Staffers at the district attorney's office are nearly a third of the way through sorting all of the Police Department's forensic investigations since 2004 to determine how many resulted in trials and convictions Nov. 27, 2016 The shuttering of the Austin Police Department's forensics lab after an audit found unscientific protocols and contamination...

New evidence problems have surfaced at the Harris County Courthouse after questions were raised about yet another crime lab analyst, the latest in a string of evidence snafus that have put more than 1,000 criminal cases under scrutiny. November 22, 2016 New evidence problems have surfaced at the Harris County Courthouse after questions were raised ...

Texas Rangers are helping to look into money missing from the Police Department's evidence room. Enter Article DATE HERE PFLUGERVILLE — The Texas Rangers confirmed Thursday that they are assisting in a months-long investigation into missing money from the Pflugerville Police Department's evidence room, while officials say a separate, unrelated...

The room, which is 14,000 square feet, is holding approximately 15,000 pieces of evidence, 46 percent of capacity, according to the Houston Police Department. October 20, 2016 HOUSTON - Interim Houston Police Chief Martha Montalvo could not provide a time estimate on Thursday of how long it would take to assess how much evidence was contaminated, i...

A judge ordered Johnson County last month to pay Helen McCommas $20,169.52 for seven firearms and about 10,000 rounds of ammunition that either disappeared or were destroyed after sheriff's officers seized them in 2013. October 12, 2016 CLEBURNE Issues at the Johnson County Sheriff's Department, which is under investigation by the Texas Rangers, le...

Hess ended up destroying nearly 8,000 items. Of those items, 861 were traced back to 470 open cases, 183 of which have been determined to be drug-related cases, according to a newsrelease by the constable's office. Enter Article DATE HERE Harris County The Harris County Precinct 4 constable's office has fired a deputy on the heels of allegatio...

An audit on July 15, 2016 reported more than 2000 property items noted in databases could not be found on property room shelves. An exhaustive effort to clean up that room has whittled the number to fewer than 500.Precinct 2 management is convinced none of them are related to active criminal cases. Leadership blames the errors on a lack of proper p...

Evidence-keeping sloppy in 4 of 8 constable's offices September 25, 2016 With Harris County's Precinct 4 Constable's Office mired in scandal over the improper destruction of 21,000 pieces of evidence, serious evidence cataloging and control problems also have been uncovered in the constables' offices in Precincts 3,6 and 7, according to interviews ...

The video, security camera footage from the police department, does show him take items from a locker, thought from what we're told, it's a personal locker, not an evidence locker. September 6, 2016 DRISCOLL - KRIS 6 News has obtained exclusive video that sheds more light on a former police chief accused of stealing drugs from an evidence locker. E...

Defendant in evidence destruction scandal sues Harris County By St. John Barned-Smith Updated 11:01 am, Wednesday, September 7, 2016 20 Photo: Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle Image 1 of 5 Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson arrives for a media conference to discuss the thousands of pieces of evidence that were destroyed by Harris ...

More than 1,000 cases pending, DA says September 02, 2016 HOUSTON - About 21,500 pieces of evidence were discarded by a deputy constable earlier this year, according to Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson. The evidence was collected from 2007 to present. More News Headlines 90 cases dismissed by DA's Office after evidence mistakenly thro...

According to investigators, the evidence was thrown out by a single deputy working in the property room after a general house-cleaning was  ordered last January. The deputy, a 14-year veteran, was fired for not following proper policies and procedures.​ September 01, 2016 HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - The Harris County Attorney confirms, in a letter ...

According to Herman he immediately fired the deputy who had worked in the evidence room for 14 years. The deputy had no charges filed against him. 08/27 2016 TYLER, Texas (KTRK)- The Harris County District Attorney's office has dismissed 90 drug cases after a Precinct 4 deputy constable threw away evidence connected to pending cases. Constable Mark...

In any case, sounds like these defendants lucked out. August 25, 20 Thanks to the error of one Harris County Precinct 4 deputy, an untold number of accused drug offenders might be off the hook. In January, Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman said his office discovered that the deputy, whom Herman did not name, accidentally threw away a large amount of...

The Harris County District Attorney's Office has thrown out a drug case after an employee discarded crucial evidence. August 18, 2016 HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The Harris County District Attorney's Office has thrown out a drug case after an employee discarded crucial evidence. David Bellamy, 40, was arrested in June 2015 on drug charges. This April, prosec...

City and police officials argued during the hearing that Jefferson checked out an unknown amount of marijuana from the evidence room on Sept. 3, 2009, and never returned it. They could find no record or person to validate Jefferson's claim that it was returned. August 5, 2016 A former Abilene police officer accused of taking marijuana out of eviden...

In June, the Texas Forensic Science Commission told the department its audit had found that untrained staff and improper testing procedures raised concerns about the scientific validity of the lab's DNA test results. July 30, 2016 More than a month after the Austin Police Department was forced to abruptly shut down its DNA testing lab, it remains u...

A former South Texas police officer has been convicted on federal drug charges for stealing cocaine and then staging a fake bust to cover up the theft. July 14, 2016 MCALLEN, Texas A former South Texas police officer has been convicted on federal drug charges for stealing cocaine and then staging a fake bust to cover up the theft.  A jury on T...

He is accused of tampering with evidence and violating department policy. Jul 07 2016 ABILENE, Texas - The appeal hearing for a former Abilene police officer accused of stealing marijuana from the department's evidence room ended Thursday afternoon at Abilene City Hall. Arthur Jefferson worked for the department for 12 years before he was terminate...

Former Sullivan City police Chief Miguel Martinez didn't just watch a patrolman pocket marijuana last year -- he personally handled alcohol later mixed with the drugs, according to a Texas Rangers report. July 1, 2016 Former Sullivan City police Chief Miguel Martinez didn't just watch a patrolman pocket marijuana last year -- he personally handled ...

Mike Cantu's been the chief for a year and a half. He previously served as a Corpus Christi City Marshall for several years.When reached late Monday afternoon, Cantu said the allegations are false. Jun 20, 2016 DRISCOLL - The Chief of Police in Driscoll is on administrative leave after being accused of taking drugs from an evidence locker at the de...

On May 21, 2015, Sullivan City Police Chief Miguel Martinez saw de la Mora take handfuls of marijuana from the department's evidence room and did not stop the officer. Texas Rangers investigated the incident and Martinez and de la Mora were indicted January 27, 2016. Enter Article DATE HERE In exchange for pleading guilty, a former Sullivan Ci...

The charges against the former chief are in connection with a report in 2015 that officer Angel De La Mora had taken home remnants of marijuana from inside the department's evidence room. Jun 8, 2016 EDINBURG — Barring any last minute plea deals, a former Sullivan City police chief will take his case to a jury in less than two weeks after a hearing...

WFAA-TV, wfaa.comBYLINE: Brett Shipp, WFAAEllis County, TXSources say Lt. Phillip Slaughter abruptly resigned late last month. What followed shocked his co-workers.Phillip Slaughter (Photo: Courtesy - Ellis County Sheriff's D...

Associated Press, CBS 4 (KGBT-TV), valleycentral.comBYLINE: Dave HendricksSullivan City, TXSullivan City police Chief Miguel Martinez4:35 p.m. Update: Sullivan City police Chief Miguel Martinez took a "leave of absence" Tuesd...

The Kaufman Herald, kaufmanherald.comKaufman County, TXKEMP - A member of Kaufman County’s law enforcement ranks has found himself on the other side of the bars.According to Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office public information ...

The Clay County Leader (Henrietta, Texas)BYLINE: Matt Kelton Clay County LeaderClay County, TXHamberger accused of taking firearm from evidence roomScott Alan Hamberger, a former deputy with the Sheriff's office, has been ind...

Beaumont Enterprise, beaumontenterprise.comBYLINE: Beth RankinJefferson County, TXMerisa Jones Pickens was arrested Nov. 24 and charged with felony theft after Jefferson County Sheriff's Office officials say she stole about $...