Verify: How often does evidence from rape kits lead to criminal charges? August 18th, 2023 CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Sexual assault evidence collection kits are used to recover DNA from a victim after an assault in the hopes it will lead to an arrest. But how often does this evidence actually result in criminal charges? North Carolina is currently working ...

The indictments showed multiple instances of drugs and evidence in the form of cash and coins — more than $12,000 — being taken from the Enfield Police Department's evidence room. September 14, 2022 A former Enfield police officer already facing charges associated with evidence tampering now faces 58 counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of mi...

More Bikes July 28, 2022 Charlotte, N.C. — A group of bicyclists were charged with reckless driving last Thursday by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. Police said an assault committed earlier by one of the cyclists in uptown Charlotte led them to the bicycle gang. Five bikes were seized during the arrest, the police posted Tuesday on Twi...

The chain of custody is one of the first elements a good defense attorney will scrutinize. If he or she can prove a break in the chain of custody, the evidence is not admissible at trial July 18, 2022 There is a sexual assault taking place right now. Every 68 seconds, someone in America is sexually assaulted. More than 97% of perpetrators get off s...

Last spring, Mr. Spivey was charged with more than 70 felonies, including stealing or destroying evidence, embezzlement and opioid trafficking, stemming from his time as the police chief in Chadbourn Mach 1, 2022 William Anthony Spivey, who resigned last year as the Chadbourn, N.C., police chief after a misconduct investigation, has been charged wi...

A North Carolina man has been arrested in the killing of 4-year-old girl who was snatched from her South Carolina home in the middle of the night 35 years ago. January 9, 2021 A North Carolina man has been arrested in the killing of 4-year-old girl who was snatched from her South Carolina home in the middle of the night 35 years ago. Thomas Eric Mc...

The convictions were overturned in 2014 after DNA was found on a cigarette butt left near Buie's body pointed to another man already in prison for a similar crime. May 17, 2021 Raleigh, N.C. — Two men falsely imprisoned for decades for the rape and murder of a young Robeson County girl were awarded more than $80 million in compensation their treatm...

Former top cop is accused of repeatedly raiding the police department's evidence room and stealing a variety of narcotics, thousands of dollars in cash, and firearms. July, 17, 2021 OLUMBUS COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) - Former Chadbourn Police Chief Anthony Spivey was given a $300,000 unsecured bond in court Thursday, which is in addition to his already st...

chief Jeff Dodson said he knows situations like this endanger public trust, but he wants the public to know this was an isolated incident June 15, 2021 A former Radford police officer has been convicted after admitting he took money from the evidence room. The now-retired Lieutenant Andy Wilburn plead guilty after being charged last Friday to one m...

In 2014, both Brown and McCollum were exonerated and released from prison after DNA from a cigarette collected at the crime scene was tested and ultimately tied another person to the crime. May 17, 2021 A federal jury has awarded $75 million to two brothers in North Carolina, decades after they were convicted of rape and murder they did not commit....

The indictment shows that several firearms were stolen by Spivey from the evidence locker  May 7 , 2021 WHITEVILLE, N.C. — A former North Carolina police chief who resigned last month amid an investigation into missing evidence has been indicted on 88 felony counts, authorities announced Friday. William Anthony Spivey was indicted by a Columbu...

The former top cop in the town of Chadbourn repeatedly raided the police department's evidence room and stole a variety of narcotics, thousands of dollars in cash, and firearms APRIL 21, 2021 CHADBOURN, N.C. (WECT) - The former top cop in the town of Chadbourn repeatedly raided the police department's evidence room and stole a variety of narcotics,...

The indictments in which the case is based involve sheriff's office investigators finding multiple items of unsealed evidence belonging to the Enfield Police Department in Murphy's home Septmeber 12, 2020 A former Enfield police officer has been indicted on numerous counts of embezzlement and evidence tampering and an investigation into possible ch...

Search of home - They found multiple items of unsealed evidence belonging to the Enfield Police Department, as well as marijuana and paraphernalia. September 4, 2020 Enfield, NC - A former Enfield police officer has been indicted on embezzlement and other charges following an investigation that began after allegations of sexual exploitation of a ch...

The clerk's office has to keep up with time frames for keeping evidence and follow through with judges' orders for destruction of evidence when it no longer needs to be kept. July 31, 2020 A required internal audit by the state of the Wilkes County Clerk of Superior Court's Office during the spring showed no areas where improvement is needed. This ...

Charges that included 16 counts of breaking and entering and one count of trafficking opium or heroin February 18,  A former Haywood County Sheriff's Deputy charged in 2018 with several felonies related to the theft of evidence, including narcotics, will be spending at least the next seven years behind bars. Kevin Smathers pleaded guilty to al...

Greenville Police Department has been unable to find the evidence after searching investigator work stations, case files, and storage areas. December 5, 2019 A recently discovered letter that could implicate a former Greenville County sheriff and members of his team in the 1975 murder of a deputy and his father is missing. Greenville police found t...

More than 2,000 new kits and 8,000 old kits were entered into the system, according to the North Carolina Department of Justice. Enter Article DATE HERE RALEIGH, N.C. (WMBF) - More than 10,000 sexual assault kits were logged into North Carolina's online tracking system in the first year. Last October, the state introduced the statewide system ...

Attorneys general issue warnings September 6, 2019 A do-it-yourself evidence kit for rape survivors being marketed by a New York company won't actually help prosecutors convict rapists, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein warned Wednesday. Creators of the MeToo Kit say the evidence collection process is so simple, anyone can do it. Following...

Bizzell said the new test returned a DNA match for Scott, who has been charged with single counts of first-degree murder and kidnapping. May 2, 2019 Authorities in North Carolina have arrested a 65-year-old Florida man and charged him in the 1972 murder of a 33-year-old mother, alleging newly tested evidence links him to the cold case. Bonnie Neigh...

Council members say an audit revealed 25 guns bought to outfit the department's officers were missing Enter Article DATE HERE HERTFORD, N.C. (WAVY) - Council members in a northeastern North Carolina town say an investigation into the town's police department uncovered troubling concerns. "We want to say that this council is not trying to hide ...

The indictments note that Smathers did "break and enter the Haywood County Sheriff's Office evidence room with the intent to commit a larceny or felony therein." Enter Article DATE HERE A former Haywood County Sheriff's Deputy has been indicted on several felonies, including trafficking Oxycodone. Former detective Kevin Smathers was terminated...

Evidence was routinely stored in the trunks of officers' cars rather than in evidence lockers, auditors also reported. February 8, 2019 BRUNSWICK COUNTY — Despite evidence mishandling – described by an official as "sloppy" – Brunswick County's District Attorney's Office has not contacted the Brunswick County Defense Bar about cases that may have be...

For more than 10 years, his identity eluded investigators Enter Article DATE HERE About a decade ago, Fayetteville, N.C., was terrorized by a series of rapes committed on and around a major thoroughfare on the northern side of the city. From March 2006 until January 2008, the police said, a man they called the Ramsey Street Rapist assaulted vi...

Sheriff Christopher added that this is the first time since he's been Sheriff that something like this has happened. September 7, 2018 A Haywood County Sheriff's Deputy has been terminated for allegedly accessing and removing items from the department's evidence room without authorization. According to a press release sent out by the sheriff's offi...

"We were able to obtain his DNA and get it off to the state crime lab, and we got a match yesterday," years later!! August 23, 2108 John Somerindyke of the Fayetteville Police Department couldn't stop smiling. "We made an arrest," he told a roomful of reporters on Wednesday. "Finally." For more than 10 years, police In Fayetteville, N.C., had been ...

Long time IAPE Member August 6, 2018 Kannapolis Police Officer Ruth Stewart recently retired from the department after serving the residents of the city for 30 years. Stewart served as a patrol officer, DARE officer, evidence custodian and training coordinator. "Ruth has been a very valuable employee over the years and has worn many hats for our ag...

A former Southern Pines police employee faces dozens of charges after an audit revealed money missing from the Property and Evidence Division Enter Article DATE HERE SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. (WNCN) - A former Southern Pines police employee faces dozens of charges after an audit revealed money missing from the Property and Evidence Division, offici...

Arrested and faces charges of selling confiscated guns, according to law enforcement. July 25, 2018 The former chief of a North Carolina police department has been arrested and faces charges of selling confiscated guns, according to law enforcement. Eric Tinsley worked for the Biltmore Forest Police Department for 27 years, including 11 as the chie...

A federal grand jury indicted a former sergeant for the Gates County Sheriff's Office Monday with stealing firearms and possessing a significant amount of controlled substances with the intent to distribute them. May 7, 2018 RALEIGH – A federal grand jury indicted a former sergeant for the Gates County Sheriff's Office Monday with stealing firearms...

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said at a news conference Wednesday that 56-year-old Warren Lee Caldwell was arrested March 1 and jailed in connection with the rape of an 18-year-old in 1990 and of a 17-year-old in 1994. March 7, 2018 RALEIGH, N.C. — Police in North Carolina's largest city have accused a man of two rapes of teenagers dating back more ...

A new state law required all law enforcement agencies to report their numbers of untested rape kits to the State Crime Lab earlier this year, and 92 percent of the 563 agencies responded. March 1, 2018 RALEIGH — North Carolina has more than 15,000 untested sexual assault kits, a backlog that national advocacy group described as "significant." Attor...

The key to the evidence room was in an unlocked desk drawer January 4, 2018 Former Davidson County Sheriff's Deputy Andrew Eads has plead guilty and has been sentenced to 16 to 29 months in the North Carolina Department of Correction for multiple counts of embezzlement and illegally accessing a government computer on Thursday morning. During a hear...

Police reach out to survivors about discarded evidence January 1, 2018 When Veronica was raped more than 13 years ago, she says neither the police nor the hospital staff believed her story that a longtime friend attacked her while his mother was in the next room. "I was treated like a female crying wolf," said Veronica, who says the man raped her w...

November 21, 2017 GREENVIILLE, NC – A Greenville police officer was arrested Tuesday afternoon after $60 was stolen from a car he searched. Officer Alec Smith, 23, was charged with misdemeanor larceny. Greenville police officers were called to the Rodeway Inn on Greenville Boulevard on November 5 to investigate potential drug activity. Officers rec...

Resolving the issue has spanned three different police chiefs. However, Chief Tammy Hooper reports the evidence room is cleaned up and fully inventoried. November 29, 2017 ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — The criminal justice system relies on evidence, yet Asheville Police Department's (APD) own evidence room was once investigated for a crime. Resolving th...

The arrest is a result of a State Bureau of Investigation probe into evidence that was missing from the Columbus County Sheriff's Office June 9, 2017 WHITEVILLE, N.C. (WECT) — A former captain with the Columbus County Sheriff's Office has been accused of stealing money from the evidence safe at the Columbus County Sheriff's Office. David Gerald Nob...

Instead of leaving the pistols in the sheriff's office evidence room, he signed them in and took them for himself, May 24, 2017 he former Iredell deputy charged with taking two pistols he seized during an investigation pleaded no-contest Wednesday to larceny and obstruction of justice. A Superior Court judge sentenced Thomas Lane "Tommy" Adams to 2...

Shotguns, bikes, drugs, a ham and a coffin: just a few of the items at CMPD's Property Control Room when this story was written in 1982. The department was responsible for the safekeeping of evidence, lost items and recovered stolen things. April 21, 2017 By John Monk, Observer Staff Writer This is where Charlotte's lost things wind ...

Like most police agencies across the country, the department found itself with a large backlog of untested kits, "as best practices and the department's policies for testing sexual assault evidence evolved," the city of Charlotte said this week in announcing the planned near-elimination of backlogged kits. February 14, 2017 The Charlotte-Mecklenbur...

The Asheville Citizen-Times (North Carolina), Main Edition, NEWS; Pg. B1BYLINE: JOHN BOYLEBuncombe County, NCPersistent, pesky readers are some of my favorites.Sure, they sometimes drive me nuts, but they also keep me on my t...

foxcarolina.comBYLINE: FOX Carolina StaffLink to ArticleGraham County, NCFire Destroyed Evidence RoomInvestigators study the scene of a fire that gutted the investigative room of the Graham County Sheriff's Department on Mond...

citizen-times.comBYLINE: Clarke MorrisonAsheville, NCASHEVILLE — A new state law requiring that police take DNA samples from people charged in violent or sex crimes could solve 100 cases statewide in the first year alone.And ...

The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina)BYLINE: THOMASI MCDONALD AND RUTH SHEEHAN; Staff WritersRaleigh, NCNearly irrefutable, DNA evidence is becoming the weapon of choice in North Carolina's war against crime.In 2007, ...

Mountain Xpress, mountainx.comBYLINE: David ForbesAsheville, NCWilliam Lee Smith, the former evidence room manager, showing citizens around the room in 2009.Former Asheville Police Department evidence room manager William Lee...

Carolina Public Press, carolinapublicpress.orgBYLINE: Jon Elliston, , Haywood, McDowell and Polk County’s, NC‘Unannounced’ inspections in Haywood uncover discrepancies, missing itemsIn th...

Team 5 Investigates, WCVB-TV, wcvb.comBYLINE: Kathy CurranAshland, NCProbe continues into Ashland Police Department, former chiefASHLAND, Mass. — Team 5 Investigates has uncovered new allegations of evidence tampering and mis...

The Citizen Times, citizen-times.comBYLINE: Clarke MorrisonAsheville, NCAndrew Davis listens while seated beside public defender, LeAnn Melton, during his trial in Buncombe County Superior Court Wednesday. Davis is charged wi...

MountainXpress, mountainx.comBYLINE: David ForbesLink to ArticleAsheville, NCAn image of the lack of order in the APD evidence room found by auditor Mike Wright. Photos by Max Cooper“I'm not going to talk about that,” Ashevil...

North Carolina Lawyers Weekly, nclawyersweekly.comBYLINE: The Associated PressLink to ArticleAsheville, NCASHEVILLE (AP) — Asheville police are still trying to sort through problems in the department’s evidence room.The agenc...