Dallas News, crimeblog.dallasnews.com
BYLINE: Scott Goldstein/Reporter
Link to Article
Dallas, TX
More than 100 bags of illegal drugs sent to City Store
Dallas police mistakenly sent a file cabinet with 123 bags of various illegal drugs to the City Store, which is open to the public and sells surplus property including some that was confiscated by police.
Officials said the discovery of the mistake this month came before the cabinet was moved from a back room of the store and the public never came in contact with the drugs.
The mistake was apparently made in January, when employees at the Dallas Police Department Property Unit were cleaning out file cabinets used to store drugs tied to criminal cases. Officials there were making room to construct new shelves, police said.
The empty cabinets were then moved over to the Dallas City Store for future sale. But it turned out not all the cabinets were empty, police said.
Last week, a city employee was doing an inventory of the cabinets and made the surprising discovery, police said. The bags included marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.
"It was a terrible oversight," Dallas police Sgt. Warren Mitchell said this afternoon. "We're going to see where we went wrong and try to fix that problem."
Mitchell, a department spokesman, said the bags are believed to be tied to criminal cases dating between 1994 and 2005. He said that means it is unlikely any of those cases have not yet been adjudicated.
The case has been referred to the DPD's Internal Affairs Division. Those responsible could face discipline for the mistake.
The City Store is located in the 3100 block of Irving Boulevard in the Stemmons Corridor.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
International Association for Property and Evidence
"Law Enforcement Serving the Needs of Law Enforcement"
www.IAPE.org