TimesNews, timesnews.net
BYLINE: Jeff Bobo
Link to Article

Hawkins County, TN

2011-04-26_INT_Evidence room theft could compromise drug cases_01
Brad Depew

ROGERSVILLE — Hawkins County Sheriff Ronnie Lawson said Monday that oxycodone and methadone pills stolen from his evidence storage room last month may compromise the case against a couple from whom the pills were seized.

Former Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office narcotics detective Brad Depew waived arraignment Monday in Hawkins County Sessions Court on charges related to that evidence room theft including burglary, theft and tampering with evidence.

Depew, 42, Barrett Lane, Church Hill, was allegedly captured on HCSO surveillance video March 19 stealing a brown envelope from the evidence room that contained hundreds of oxycodone and methadone pills seized during a drug raid near Surgoinsville on Dec. 22.

“I was made aware of this incident by my administration, and upon personally reviewing several videotapes I personally called Attorney General Berkeley Bell and asked him to conduct an investigation, at which time he notified the TBI (Tennessee Bureau of Investigation),” Lawson told the Times-News Monday.

The stolen evidence room pills had allegedly been seized from David and Candida Henegar, 292 Hipshire Hollow Road, located southwest of Surgoinsville.

The Henegars are facing numerous charges including two counts of possession of Schedule II narcotics with intent to deliver and two counts of possession of Schedule III narcotics with intent to deliver.

Read the expanded version of this report in the print edition of the Times-News or its enhanced electronic edition.

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