Union Leader, unionleader.com
BYLINE: JASON SCHREIBER Union Leader Correspondent jschreiber@newstote.com

East Kingston, NH

EAST KINGSTON — A police corporal placed on leave following a probe that began after an inmate trusty allegedly broke into the East Kingston Police Department’s evidence room has resigned.

Cpl. Mark Iannuccillo resigned effective Sept. 30.

Iannuccillo and Police Chief Reid Simpson were placed on paid administrative leave in early August pending a multi-agency investigation launched after trusty Jarred Brisbois allegedly stole heroin from the evidence room in May.

Simpson remains on leave.

Selectmen accepted the resignation letter but did not release it publicly.

Cheryll Hurteau, town office manager, said the letter is part of Iannuccillo’s personnel file and that selectmen were advised by the town’s attorney not to release it.

The Attorney General’s Office is working on the investigation with the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Department and the Rockingham County Attorney’s Office.

The Attorney General’s Office announced in August that a criminal investigation was being done to determine whether any members of the police department could be held criminally liable following the burglary that occurred on May 11.

Investigators have not released details of their investigation of the police department.

Brisbois, 20, has been indicted on charges he broke into the evidence room, stole heroin and later brought it back to the jail.

The County Attorney’s Office has said that the break-in occurred when Brisbois was left alone for several hours while performing maintenance work as a trusted inmate through the jail’s trusty program.

Simpson and Iannuccillo were put on leave around the same time that the Attorney General’s Office began its probe, but Associate Attorney General Jane Young has said that doesn’t necessarily mean they are the ones being targeted.

Neither Simpson nor Iannuccillo were working on the day of the burglary, but the two were the only ones with keys to the evidence room, according to Rockingham County Attorney James Reams.

Young said Tuesday that the investigation by her office is “still ongoing.”

Selectman Mark Cook, board chairman, said the town is also still conducting its own internal investigation.

Meanwhile, selectmen have hired Municipal Resources Inc. (MRI) to manage and coordinate policing services as the town conducts its investigation.

Bruce MacDougall, a retired police chief from Methuen, Mass., was named interim police manager of the department in Simpson’s absence.

Cook said the town continues to work with MRI as the police department is reorganized.

“We’re actively seeking to identify any shortcomings and find out what is working and (develop) a plan to move forward,” he said.

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