Legal pot shops are losing customers who can get products more cheaply at illegal outlets that don't charge or pay taxes Enter Article DATE HERE LOS ANGELES (AP) — A slight marijuana smell wafted out as a steady stream of customers walked into a warehouse, its doors and windows covered by bars. Suddenly, police swooped in. "Sheriff's departmen...

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors renewed a $10,000 reward Tuesday in hopes of tracking down 31 Beretta and Glock pistols, believed to be police service weapons and stolen from a vault in Compton's old City Hall. Enter Article DATE HERE LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors renewed a $10,000 reward Tuesday in hopes of...

Only 4.2 percent of 10,000 pieces of evidence feared missing from the evidence locker of the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office turned out to be lost, June 26, 2018 Only 4.2 percent of 10,000 pieces of evidence feared missing from the evidence locker of the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office turned out to be lost, a new grand jury report says. Su...

Michella's murder is just one cold case that heated up this year thanks to the cutting-edge combination of DNA and genetic genealogy. June 30, 2018 On March 26, 1986, sixth-grader Michella Welch disappeared while at a Washington state park with her two young sisters, never to be seen alive again. The 12-year-old's body was found that night; she had...

Officers were searching for two suspects who broke into the department's evidence building. June 29, 2018 Police Chief Rich St. John issued this press release later Thursday morning: Last night at 0220 hours, officers responded to an alarm at our evidence facility located on Midland Road. The first responding officer was checking the perimeter fenc...

There's been a lot of increases in technology for DNA,​ June 29, 2018 SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Officials say a suspect in a cold case from four decades ago at Stanford University appears to have killed himself as deputies were approaching to serve a search warrant Wednesday morning. Deputies from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office were trying...

Prosecutors said he used a crowbar to break into the investigations office on several occasions to steal opiates, meth and cash, compromising more than two dozen criminal cases. June 29, 2018 A former Fort Peck tribal police officer has been sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison for burglarizing the tribe's drug investigations office in 2...

The charges stem from the December 2016 discovery of evidence in the storage locker found by Cañon City resident Rick Ratzlaff, who purchased the unit. June 29, 2018 Former Fremont County Sheriff's Office Detective Robert Dodd was found guilty on three of four counts relating to the possession of murder evidence in a personal storage unit by a jury...

He declined a plea deal this year on four misdemeanor charges related to keeping case evidence in a personal storage locker. June 25, 2018 FREMONT COUNTY - A 6-person jury is now seated in the trial of former Fremont County Sheriff's investigator Robert Dodd. He declined a plea deal this year on four misdemeanor charges related to keeping case evid...

The genealogist used the suspect's DNA sample to build a family tree using public websites, then ran it through a public database and received "a significant match," according to charging papers. June 22, 2018 It was DNA, a genealogist and perseverance that zeroed in on Michella Welch's suspected killer after 32 years. On Friday, Pierce County pros...

Circumstances create unsettling echoes 2016 incident in which evidence was found in deputy's storage unit June 22, 2018 Already mourning the violent death of her 77-year-old father, Jeanette Orchard now worries that a deputy may have destroyed evidence needed to solve the case by stealing from the crime scene. "The cops who were supposed to be prot...

Arbon said one of the biggest questions he gets from voters is about the evidence room controversy June 18, 2018 OGDEN — The three hopefuls running for Weber County sheriff seem to agree on at least a couple of things — retention and recruitment of deputies rate among the top issues the office faces. Assuring positive morale within the department a...

William Earl Talbott II, 55, of SeaTac, was arrested as he was leaving his Seattle workplace. According to investigators, he is suspected of raping and killing a 19-year-old British Columbia woman in 1987, JUNE, 12, 2018 More than 30 years after a young Canadian woman was raped and shot in the back of the head, a 55-year-old SeaTac man was arrested...

"This situation came to light through routine procedures, spot checks, and internal controls, August 29, 2917 OKALOOSA CO. (WTVY) — The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office today charged an OCSO civilian employee with grand theft of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription. 40-year old Deidra Rezzarday, a P...

"I just completed my inpatient treatment and my outpatient treatment and I'm currently in continuing care for drug and alcohol addiction, June 13, 2018 Charging documents filed against a former Billings Police Department evidence technician describe her using record-keeping software to allegedly steal enough drugs from the evidence locker over roug...

The amount of evidence collected for criminal cases has been building up for decades, posing a logistical challenge for the department. June 12, 2018 Kenai police are facing a storage crunch. The amount of evidence collected for criminal cases has been building up for decades, posing a logistical challenge for the department. "Evidence storage in a...

A former Colorado police chief has pleaded guilty to charges of stealing weapons from his department and its evidence room and then selling them to pawn shops. December 1, 2017 LEADVILLE, Colo. (AP) — A former police chief in a small Colorado town has pleaded guilty to charges of stealing weapons from his department and its evidence room and then s...

Allegations that the sheriff's evidence locker had gone to hell and thousands of pieces of evidence were missing led to a grand jury investigation — again, still ongoing. June 5, 2018 Sheriff's Office politics often confound me. Politics involving allegations of misconduct, that is. Unless the press can prove allegations against a sheriff, the accu...

​ June 5, 2018 KEALAKEKUA — A 3rd Circuit Court judge was shocked to learn Monday that a piece of DNA evidence in the reported 2016 rape at Old Kona Airport Park had disappeared while in the possession of Hawaii County police. Defense counsels for Samuel Latrik and Tyron Sigrah sought to have sexual assault charges dismissed due to loss, spoliation...

Making its way through Congress is a federal bill worked on by Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten that would allow grant funding for the prosecution of violent cold cases with DNA evidence. Enter Article DATE HERE Making its way through Congress is a federal bill worked on by Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten that would al...

The internal investigation also found that the evidence room was in disarray and dozens of criminal cases may be jeopardized because of stolen or compromised evidence. May 22, 2018 OGDEN (AP) — Evidence room problems illustrated by the case of a Utah technician who was fired after being found high on methamphetamine at work are all too common, acco...

He said he concluded after the training that "evidence supervision is the scariest job I've ever had. When it goes wrong it goes really wrong and you always catch it late."  May 19, 2018 Editor's note: The Standard-Examiner is choosing not to name the accused evidence technician because she is a private citizen and as of Friday, May 18, 2018, ...

An important break came once again as a result of DNA sleuthing techniques similar to the ones used last month to crack the Golden State killer case. May 18, 2018 In 1987, Jay Cook, 20, and Tanya Van Cuylenborg, 18, a couple from Canada, were brutally killed while they were vacationing in Washington State. On Friday, the Snohomish County sheriff's ...

Enter Headline here Enter Article DATE HERE Fentanyl, a potent opioid already responsible for thousands of deaths nationwide, is increasingly showing up in drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine in California, officials say. The white powder, a lethal substance 50 times stronger than heroin, is sometimes mixed into other opioids to produce a s...

Enter Headline here May 17, 2018 Tens of thousands of rape kits are sitting on shelves in police and sheriff's department evidence rooms nationwide. And no one has tested them to see what crimes they could help solve. A bill by Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco) would help determine how many of those unanalyzed exam kits exist in California, ...

A former Fremont County Sheriff's Office detective who allegedly kept a bloody rope and other crime evidence in a personal storage locker has not yet accepted a plea agreement. Enter Article DATE HERE A former Fremont County Sheriff's Office detective who allegedly kept a bloody rope and other crime evidence in a personal storage locker has no...

Oregon State Police's crime lab is making a significant dent — with 1,100 kits in the backlog compared to 4,900 kits in 2015. Enter Article DATE HERE wo years after passing a law requiring Oregon crime labs to process the state's growing rape-kit backlog, a Secretary of State audit found Oregon State Police's crime lab is making a significant ...

An audit of the room, which was found to be in complete disarray, is expected to take more than a year. May 10, 2018 Weber County prosecutors are trying to determine which of their cases have solid footing and which have crumbled after a scandal in which the sheriff's office evidence technician admitted to stealing methamphetamine from the evidence...

"The warning signs were present but ignored," jeopardizing criminal prosecutions and harming the reputation of the office, states the review released Friday in response to public records requests. May 5, 2018 OGDEN — Despite complaints from colleagues, prosecutors and others, a former Weber County Sheriff's Office supervisor failed to report concer...

"I basically became addicted to meth in the evidence room," the report quoted the custodian as saying. May 4, 2018 Ripped or razored open to get at the narcotics inside, dozens of empty evidence bags lay strewn on the floor or crumpled and jammed into two bulging manila folders stashed under a desk. Coins, pills, empty plastic baggies with drug res...

Officials in Los Angeles say DNA and fingerprint evidence collected at the scene of a brutal 1977 rape and murder of a woman in front of her two young sons has led to an arrest in the case. May 4, 2018 LOS ANGELES — Officials in Los Angeles say DNA and fingerprint evidence collected at the scene of a brutal 1977 rape and murder of a woman in front ...

The arrest of the alleged Golden State Killer and a case currently before the court both raise questions about Fourth Amendment rights in the digital age. Enter Article DATE HERE Several years ago, the Supreme Court considered the case of Alonzo Jay King Jr. Arrested in an assault in Maryland, he ended up being charged and convicted in an unso...

The killing remained unsolved for roughly four decades, but a fingerprint found at the scene and additional DNA evidence helped Los Angeles police last week capture the man they believe is responsible. Enter Article DATE HERE When a man entered Leona Davis' South Los Angeles home in 1977, he didn't seem to care that two children were staring a...

Washington state's rape kit backlog has advocates worried how many sexual offenders are still out on the streets. Enter Article DATE HERE A sexual assault case in Tumwater provides a glaring example of how Washington state's rape kit backlog is still having serious and devastating consequences. Tumwater police have linked 35-year-old suspect L...

There is a bill in the Senate that would require all law enforcement to test rape kits. April 30, 2018 There's a new effort in the state to fix the backlog of untested rape kits. This is coming just days after the suspected Golden State Killer was arrested. According to Joyful Heart Foundation, there are an estimated 13,000 kits currently untested ...

The search turned up 40 bundles of meth in a television box on the top bunk of the sleeper berth and 50 bundles on the lower mattress. April 28, 2018 CENTRALIA, Wash. (KOMO) -- Authorities in Lewis County say a search of a truck carrying Starbucks' products to Spokane this week turned up 126 pounds of methamphetamine and other drugs. Two people, th...

Enter Headline here Enter Article DATE HERE SACRAMENTO, California (AP) — More than three decades after his trail went cold, one of California's most prolific serial killers and rapists was caught by using online genealogical sites to find a DNA match, prosecutors said Thursday. Investigators compared the DNA collected from a crime scene of th...

The state has hired a sexual-assault cold-case investigator to assist in chipping away at the state's backlog of nearly 3,500 untested rape kits. April 26, 2018 FAIRBANKS — The state has hired a sexual-assault cold-case investigator to assist in chipping away at the state's backlog of nearly 3,500 untested rape kits. Retired Alaska State Trooper Sg...

The Golden State Killer, who was arrested on suspicion of committing four killings in Sacramento and Ventura counties, is believed to be responsible for at least 12 murders, 45 rapes and 120 home burglaries throughout California. April 24, 2018 The suspect believed to be the notorious Golden State Killer — who was wanted in a dozen murders and near...

32 agents were hired as part of an effort to clear the backlog that began in 2013, when the number of people who had been ordered to give up their guns but were never visited by an agent stood at 20,000. April 20, 2018 The California Department of Justice believes it will take at least four years to finish the job of seizing guns from more than 10,...

Cold case investigators in Washington state have released DNA-generated composite sketches of a suspect in the unsolved slayings of a young Canadian couple three decades ago. April 21, 2018 Cold case investigators in Washington state have released DNA-generated composite sketches of a suspect in the unsolved slayings of a young Canadian couple thre...

In the course of investigating the evidence locker thefts, St. John said, "there were some rumors flying around" about officers having had sexual relations with Strizich, and when asked, she identified the three officers. April 18, 2018 Three Billings police officers who admitted having sex on city property with a civilian employee of the departmen...

"I retired because I was being forced out of my career by a vindictive, politically motivated attempt to blame me for the crimes committed by a former evidence custodian under my supervision," Burns said in the statement. April 13, 2018 OGDEN — A former senior deputy says he was made a scapegoat and forced to retire amid an investigation into drug ...

Komrosky, 31, was arrested after allegedly stealing a pound of methamphetamine valued at $10,000 and 13 cell phones from the Metro Area Task Force. April 12, 2018 A judge has set bond at $2,500 cash for a Burleigh County sheriff's deputy charged with theft and drug crimes while on the job. Kerry Komrosky, 31, was arrested Tuesday after allegedly st...

Public documents show a fired evidence-room technician acknowledged using methamphetamine seized in Weber County Sheriff's Office investigations. Enter Article DATE HERE Ogden • Public documents show a fired evidence-room technician acknowledged using methamphetamine seized in Weber County Sheriff's Office investigations. The Standard-Examiner...

Arao is accused of obtaining the guns by transferring "off-roster" inventory from Ronin Tactical Group to himself, while Fernandez allegedly sold dozens of "off-roster" firearms through private-party transfers. "Off-roster" guns are those that can be legally bought by law enforcement officers but are not available to the general public. March 26, 2...

California doesn't know how many rape kits are on the shelves," said Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco. Enter Article DATE HERE The case of an Antioch man accused of murder who evaded capture while a rape kit implicating him years earlier sat on a shelf has caught the attention of lawmakers and activists. But chances are, he's not the on...

According to the statement, the discrepancy was discovered when the evidence was being weighed in preparation to use a small quantity of the cocaine for training purposes. March 15, 2018 Police say criminal and administrative investigations were initiated in October 2017 after it was discovered that cocaine recovered as evidence in 2014 was found t...

Officer broke into the Fort Peck Tribal Law and Justice Building and used a crowbar to get into the drug investigations office where he took opiates, methamphetamine and cash Enter Article DATE HERE GREAT FALLS — A former Fort Peck tribal police officer has pleaded guilty to stealing drugs and money from the tribe's drug investigations office,...

Thrush allegedly saved leftover portions of the drug evidence and later ingested them. Larson said Thrush was properly vetted for his position as chemist for the crime lab. FEBRUARY 23, 2018 On February 23, KGVO reported that Derek Thrush, a former chemist at the Montana State Crime Lab in Missoula, had allegedly stolen samples of methamphetamine f...