It is all smiles until you get caught!


Rau charged in missing and tampered evidence case August 31st, 2023 Tillamook Police Chief Raymond Rau was charged with four misdemeanors on August 30, relating to the Oregon State Police and Department of Justice investigation into missing and tampered evidence at the Tillamook Police Department's property room. Rau was charged with two counts of ...

Continue reading
423 Hits

Oregon Department of Justice charges former Ontario Police sergeant for missing evidence


investigation began in August of 2021 when it was discovered that $900 cash was missing. That money, which was tied to a criminal case, was to be returned back to the victim after it had gone through the court system May 13, 2023 ONTARIO — A court case tied to missing evidence from Ontario Police Department has finally wrapped up, with a sergeant h...

Continue reading
844 Hits

Overhaul of evidence room nearly complete


Malheur County District Attorney turns over investigation to Oregon Dept. of Justice September 15, 2022 ditor's note:This article has been updated to reflect that one person who was tied to the investigation has been cleared of any wrongdoing. Another person remains on paid leave, and it has now been confirmed that they also are tied to the investi...

Continue reading
483 Hits

Former technician cleared in case of missing evidence


The newspaper confirmed that there is still one person who remains on paid administrative leave which is pending the outcome of the investigation, now in the hands of the Oregon Department of Justice. Septembere 24, 2022 ONTARIO — Former Ontario Police Department Evidence Technician David Worth has been cleared in the investigation into missing evi...

Continue reading
873 Hits

Police chief says it could take 2 years to fully reconcile evidence


'Infrastructure in dire need' June 11, 2022 ONTARIO — Security updates to the evidence room at Ontario Police Department are expected to take place sometime in the next couple of months. However, it could be up to two years to get fully reconciled on processing evidence. That was the latest update delivered from Police Chief Michael Iwai to the Ont...

Continue reading
943 Hits

29-Year Old Cold Case Solved


In 2019, cold-case detectives at the Sheriff's Office partnered with the DNA Doe Project t (the Project) to see if DNA and genealogy could be used to uncover a name. April 20, 2022 Some 29 years after the body of an unknown homicide victim turned up on California State Route 152 in unincorporated Gilroy, the County of Santa Clara Office of the Sher...

Continue reading
1029 Hits

DNA helps Klamath County investigators identify suspect in unsolved 1978 double murder


The young couple had been hitchhiking through Oregon, possibly to visit Crater Lake, when they disappeared sometime in September of 1978. Both had been shot, their bodies discarded in the woods. January 6, 2022 KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — The long-cold case of a couple murdered near Lake of the Woods in 1978 at last has something approaching closure, tha...

Continue reading
Tags:
1293 Hits

Council urges city manager to find entity to complete purge for police evidence room

The purge is tied to the outcome of an audit which revealed there may be more missing from the evidence room than the initial $900 in cash that couldn't be found, triggering the need for an audit by an outside agency. October 25, 2021 ONTARIO — Following an executive session on Friday afternoon, the Ontario City Council gave the city manager marchi...

Continue reading
910 Hits

Man indicted in cold case murder, accused of killing wife in Oregon 25 years ago


Despite several attempts to identify the woman, she remained unidentified until 2019 when a new DNA technique was used to put a name to her remains. September 13, 2021 MILL CREEK, Ore. – A 68-year-old is facing charges in a cold case murder from 1996, accused of killing his wife in Oregon after her skeletal remains were recently identified through ...

Continue reading
Tags:
914 Hits

Update: Audit for missing evidence spurs criminal investigation

The audit, which was conducted in July, was spurred as a result of a court case having wrapped up and OPD being unable to find the related evidence — $900 in cash — that was to be to be returned to the victim. September 1, 2021 ONTARIO — A criminal investigation is underway over evidence that is missing from the Ontario Police Department. Oregon St...

Continue reading
Tags:
1115 Hits

Former Klamath Falls officer pleads guilty to stealing drugs from evidence room

Reif reportedly entered the Klamath Falls Police Department's evidence room with an unauthorized key, removed an evidence item containing methamphetamine and fentanyl  Enter Article DATE HERE A former Klamath Falls police officer, who stole narcotics from an evidence room and caused a DUII crash last November, pleaded guilty Tuesday to mu...

Continue reading
918 Hits

Audit of Ontario police evidence room unable to locate missing $900, possibly more (update)

Romero plans to ask the Ontario City Council to fund a broader audit. July 23, 2021 ONTARIO – Auditors couldn't find $900 in cash missing from the evidence room of the Ontario Police Department and found indications other evidence may be missing, according to Police Chief Steven Romero. Romero said Thursday that preliminary results shared with him ...

Continue reading
1058 Hits

Ontario Police Department triggers audit after $900 found missing from evidence room (Oregon)

Romero said he didn't know how long it had been since the evidence room had last been audited, but that this audit would bring the police department into compliance with a policy requiring annual reports. July 13, 2021 ONTARIO – The Ontario Police Department is undergoing an audit by the Oregon Association Chiefs of Police and two employees have be...

Continue reading
1455 Hits

Scappoose police officer faces 13-count indictment, accused of taking drug evidence, official misconduct

JUNE 28, 2021 A Scappoose police officer was arraigned on a 13-count indictment Monday charging him with nine counts of official misconduct, two counts of unlawful delivery of Oxycodone and one count each of tampering with physical evidence and attempted delivery of Oxycodone. Troy Alan Gainer, who joined the police department in August 2004, is ac...

Continue reading
1147 Hits

She will always be 19': Arrest in 1980 cold case murder brings some relief, more grief to family of Barbara Tucker


June 11, 2021 A year ago, Susan Pater and Alice Juan were packing up their parents' home in Southeast Portland when they stumbled upon photos of their beloved sister, Barbara. Forty years had passed since Barbara Tucker was murdered at Mt. Hood Community College. In the family photos, Barbara never ages past 19. She was almost 6 feet tall, strong a...

Continue reading
1159 Hits

Former Police Officer facing federal charges for stealing drugs from evidence room

Reif is alleged to have entered the Klamath Falls Police Department's temporary evidence room using an unauthorized key and removed an evidence item containing methamphetamine and fentanyl Enter Article DATE HERE Klamath County, Ore. — A former Klamath Falls Police Officer is facing federal charges for stealing methamphetamine and fentanyl fro...

Continue reading
923 Hits

With new law in place, Central Oregon police still going after hard drugs

Drugs still being seized and destroyed in Bend May 5, 2021 Oregon's Measure 110, one of the country's most ambitious drug decriminalization laws yet passed, has been in effect for a month, but law enforcement leaders in Central Oregon insist it hasn't greatly affected them. "I can tell you unequivocally, it's not going to affect anything that we do...

Continue reading
845 Hits

Detective high on stolen fentanyl crashes police car while on duty, Oregon cops say

Reif had unlawfully obtained and used drug evidence from an unrelated case in the course of his duties, December 15, 2020 A former detective with the Klamath Falls police was arrested Tuesday, accused of causing a crash while on duty and allegedly high on drugs he stole from the department, according to a news release from Oregon State Police. The ...

Continue reading
1343 Hits

Former Oregon sheriff’s deputy accused of theft, other charges, found dead in Wilsonville


deputy accused of theft, official misconduct October 20,2020  Former Oregon sheriff's deputy accused of theft, other charges, found dead in Wilsonville A former Marion County sheriff's deputy accused of theft, official misconduct and other charges was found dead over the weekend at a Wilsonville hotel, authorities say. Sean Banks was found dea...

Continue reading
1608 Hits

OFFICER SAFETY - Portland demonstrators use rope from flag to lock cops in precinct -OFFICER SAFETY -

The front door to Central Precinct was locked from the outside with the u-lock. It had to be cut off from the outside so those inside could leave. The rope was taken by protesters from the flag pole and tied to the roll-up doors on the Southeast corner of the building. JUNE 17, 2020 Protesters in Portland, Ore. early Wednesday locked police inside ...

Continue reading
1199 Hits

Arraignment set over for suspected serial killer in 1974 murder case

Using DNA evidence from Martha Morrison's half-brother, sister and the exhumed body of her father, investigators were able to identify the decades-old remains July 7, 2015. January 10, 2020 Arraignment for suspected serial killer Warren Forrest, who's accused in the slaying of 17-year-old Martha Morrison in the 1970s, was set over Friday to Feb. 7....

Continue reading
Tags:
1333 Hits

Forensic Felons: Criminals in the Oregon Crime Labs

Larsen pled guilty to tampering with evidence and theft of Schedule II type drugs through direct access to evidence in lockers while working out of Bend and Pendleton Oregon December 27, 2019 Nika Elise Larsen, a forensic scientist and crime scene investigator for Oregon State Police Crime Lab, faced a federal court on Aug. 15, 2016. Larsen pled gu...

Continue reading
1741 Hits

Former Cottage Grove police officer pleads guilty to stealing meth from evidence room

A Cottage Grove evidence coordinator first reported suspicions about Beach in May 2015, noting he would access the evidence locker more than any other officer and often for no specific reason. August 30, 2019 A former Cottage Grove police officer pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing drugs from a police evidence room. Phillip Allan Beach, 49, entered...

Continue reading
1645 Hits

A Tossed Cigarette Helped Solve A 1994 Cold Case Murder


They say that smoking kills. For one man, it might have handed him a death sentence after his tossed cigarette May 10, 2019 They say that smoking kills. For one man, it might have handed him a death sentence after his tossed cigarette butt helped police solve a cold case after a DNA breakthrough. According to Fox News, Oregon native Richard E. Knap...

Continue reading
1651 Hits

Vancouver Police Make Arrest In 25-Year-Old Cold Case (DNA / Genealogy)


Police say advancements in DNA technology – and the use of public databases of genealogies May 1, 2019 The Vancouver Police Department announced Tuesday they've charged a Fairview, Oregon, man with a 25-year-old unsolved murder. On Sunday, police arrested Richard Knapp, 57. He's been booked into the Clark County Jail on a murder charge. Police decl...

Continue reading
1480 Hits

Former deputy arrested in gun theft faces additional charges

He was initially arrested last June after investigators said he sold five guns that he had taken from the home of a man who died. March 9, 2019 SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A former Marion County Sheriff's deputy arrested in the theft of five guns last year now faces additional charges after investigators said they uncovered a wide range of illegal activity....

Continue reading
Tags:
1868 Hits

Regional police records system ‘a disaster’ as costs mount for Portland police

The ambitious project, though, was beset by problems from the start, with officers complaining that the new system was too cumbersome and complicated to use Enter Article DATE HERE Seven years after it was touted as an innovative electronic records system to manage police reports from 40 police agencies for sharing, the RegJIN program now has ...

Continue reading
1374 Hits

Detectives Solve Decades-Old Cold Case Using Public DNA Database

To catch him, law enforcement agencies tapped into the increasingly popular field of consumer DNA testing; they searched a free online database where anyone can share data from at-home genetic tests to hunt for familial matches. February 1, 2019 Detectives in Oregon solved a 40-year-old cold case with the help a popular ancestry and genealogy datab...

Continue reading
1581 Hits

Portland Police Solve 40-Year-Old Cold Case Murder With DNA Match (Genealogy)


Detectives used forensic genealogy to map familial lines through DNA collected from the crime scene January 31, 2019 Portland's Cold Case Homicide Detail announced the identification of the person it says is responsible for the 40-year-old murder case of Anna Marie Hlavka. Twenty-year-old Hlavka was found dead after being sexually assaulted in her ...

Continue reading
2452 Hits

Former Cottage Grove Police officer accused of stealing drugs from evidence locker


Federal charges alleging he took drugs from the evidence locker while working as a city police officer. Enter Article DATE HERE EUGENE, Ore. – A Cottage Grove man pleaded not guilty Wednesday to federal charges alleging he took drugs from the evidence locker while working as a city police officer. The court unsealed the criminal complaint agai...

Continue reading
2166 Hits

Oregon Humane Society under investigation amid accusations of mishandled evidence


"serious allegations" that at least one officer mishandled evidence August 29, 2018 Oregon State Police have suspended the law-enforcement credentials of the Oregon Humane Society's animal-abuse officers, pending an investigation into "serious allegations" that at least one officer mishandled evidence and used improper investigative techniques in c...

Continue reading
1718 Hits

Audit: Oregon crime lab shakeup over rape kit testing reduces backlog

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 ...

Continue reading
1650 Hits

Her rape kit sat untested for 22 years. Oregon police say they just found a DNA match

When a $2 million grant paid to test some of the state's 5,600 untested kits following a public outcry, police packed up the kit and sent it off to a private lab in Utah, reported The Oregonian. The kit produced a DNA match in November – 22 years after the crime. March 1, 2018 Taken in a 1996 sexual assault case, the rape kit sat untested in a Port...

Continue reading
1630 Hits

Police: Advances in DNA technology helped link 3 cold-case homicides in Eugene

Eugene Police say investigators have connected three cold-case homicides thanks to advances in DNA technolog Enter Article DATE HERE EUGENE, Ore. - Eugene Police say investigators have connected three cold-case homicides thanks to advances in DNA technology, the department said Friday. Police did not identify the cases. A press conference on t...

Continue reading
2100 Hits

Detectives solve 1979 murder of Salem teen

Persistence and DNA lead to the killer, who died in prison in 2002 November 6, 2017 SALEM — The persistence of a detective and the sister of a young woman who was stabbed and beaten has solved a murder in Oregon — 38 years after it happened. On March 9, 1979, Janie Landers disappeared outside the Fairview Training Center for the developmentally dis...

Continue reading
2046 Hits

PPB making progress in testing rape kit backlog; developing way to track kits electronically

The Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Summit of Cities Conference was held in Portland for the first time, in October. Enter Article DATE HERE PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) - The Portland Police Bureau says it's making huge strides in testing the city's rape kit backlog. Growth the bureau discussed at a sexual assault conference in Portland. The Sexual Assa...

Continue reading
1618 Hits

Oregon State Police detective solves 1979 cold case murder of Salem teen (DNA)

In April 2016, the crime lab confirmed a blood stain on the shirt matched a man's DNA. Enter Article DATE HERE More than 38 years after Janie Landers was brutally stabbed and beaten to death, an Oregon State Police detective was finally able to return a pair of earrings to her family and deliver the news they'd long waited to hear: He knew who...

Continue reading
2982 Hits

Former OSP tech arrested again, police say stole thousands from evidence lockers

OSP detectives discovered Mark Matlick stole $2,577.00 in Lake County and committed additional crimes to conceal the thefts. July 14, 2017 In June, OSP detectives arrested Matlick after discovering the Klamath Falls Area Command employee stole more than $10,000 from the Klamath Falls OSP evidence locker. LAKE COUNTY, Ore. — A former Oregon State Po...

Continue reading
2124 Hits

OSP changes monetary protocol in lieu of employee involved theft

The policy now requires our evidence technicians to deposit currency into a designated depository account rather than storing the currency in the evidence locker. Enter Article DATE HERE Klamath County, Ore. — A former Oregon State Police technician was arrested Friday and is facing a charge of aggravated theft. 57-year old Mark Matlick is acc...

Continue reading
1946 Hits

Former Oregon State Police evidence room worker arrested

A former evidence technician with the Oregon State Police accused of stealing more than $10,000 from a Klamath Falls evidence locker June 24, 2017 KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (AP) — A former evidence technician with the Oregon State Police accused of stealing more than $10,000 from a Klamath Falls evidence locker is facing a charge of aggravated theft. Pol...

Continue reading
2117 Hits

Portland Police Left 3,000 Rape Kits Gathering Dust In Storage Room

Portland police also admitted they neglected thousands of rape kits that could have solved around 500 sex crimes over the past 10 years. June 16, 2017 The police identified the alleged assailant as a registered sex offender. However, they never got around to making an arrest or even submitting the evidence. In yet another example of unacceptable la...

Continue reading
2246 Hits

Case of missing evidence unsolved in Newport; final report lists money, drugs, weapons unaccounted for


A Washington County Sheriff's Office investigation conducted last fall concluded that items missing from evidence were $2,231, narcotics from 12 cases, four handguns and a bow. In addition, a report says, drug evidence used to be flushed down a toilet to be disposed. February 14, 2017 A final investigative report on the now-disbanded Newport Police...

Continue reading
2745 Hits

Former OSP evidence tech gets prison for $50,000 in thefts


A former evidence technician was sentenced to prison for stealing more than $50,000 while working at the Oregon State Police office in Central Point January 24, 2017 A former evidence technician was sentenced to prison for stealing more than $50,000 while working at the Oregon State Police office in Central Point. John D. Parrish, 62, was sentenced...

Continue reading
2081 Hits

Testing of Oregon's shelved sexual assault kits nets first 5 DNA matches


Six months after three counties in Oregon began shipping hundreds of untested DNA samples from alleged victims of sexual assault to a Utah lab, the first results are in: Five match known offenders in a criminal database. October 3, 2016 Six months after three counties in Oregon began shipping hundreds of untested DNA samples from alleged victi...

Continue reading
1961 Hits

Alleged mistress of convicted sheriff's captain pleas guilty to lying to the feds


The alleged mistress for whom a now-jailed former Deschutes County Sheriff's Office captain stole more than $200,000 pleaded guilty to making false statements to federal agents on Thursday, according to the United States Attorney's Office. September 17, 2016 The alleged mistress for whom a now-jailed former Deschutes County Sheriff's Office captain...

Continue reading
Tags:
1744 Hits

Oregon district attorney reviewing convictions in crime-lab scandal


The number of possibly contaminated convictions grew, from one to now around 1,500 in central Oregon's Deschutes County alone. June 20, 2016 BEND, Ore. — At first, authorities in Oregon believed that the lab tech had been stealing drugs from just one batch of evidence. Then they saw that drugs were missing from other cases she had worked. And then ...

Continue reading
Tags:
1714 Hits

Bend man’s murder trial to proceed despite missing evidence

The Oregonian, The Bulliten, bendbulletin.comBYLINE: Associated PressBend, ORNicholsA judge says missing evidence won’t prevent the trial of a Bend man accused of pushing his girlfriend off a cliff.The Oregonian reports that ...

Continue reading
1748 Hits

Oregon State Police halt drug testing at Bend, Pendleton labs

The Oregonian/OregonLive, oregonlive.comBYLINE: Laura Gunderson | The Oregonian/OregonLivePendleton and Bend, OR Oregon State Police have halted drug testing at two labs in the wake of allegations that a forensic analyst stol...

Continue reading
2371 Hits

Beaverton police captains too slow to react to property missing from evidence room, documents say

The Oregonian, oregonlive.comBYLINE: Rebecca Woolington, The OregonianBeaverton, ORBeaverton Police Chief Geoff Spalding determined two captains violated department standards when they failed to take timely action last year a...

Continue reading
2530 Hits

Coins, porn seized in probe

The Register-Guard, registerguard.comBYLINE: Jack Moran, The Register-GuardEugene, ORThe criminal investigation into three Eugene Police Department property control employees continuesA criminal investigation of three Eugene ...

Continue reading
2350 Hits

Search IAPE

Blotter - Latest News

This login form is for IAPE Staff ONLY!