Tampa Bay Criminal Defense Lawyer - who polices the police?

By Nicholas Dorsten, Esq.

A story that proves even the people assigned to uphold the law often break it...

PINELLAS PARK — A five-year veteran of the Pinellas Park Police Department has been arrested and charged with failing to turn in evidence, including a gun and drugs.

The Defendant, 29, of Seminole turned himself in to the Pinellas County Jail on Jan. 25 after being charged with official misconduct, a felony. He was released on his own recognizance.

The man worked for the Pinellas Park police from February 2006 until Oct. 14, when he resigned while under investigation. He was earning about $43,042 a year.

A Pinellas Park police Captain said the investigation began in early October when the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office began preparing a shoplifting/drug possession case for trial.

The captain described the situation this way:

The defendant had arrested the suspect and listed several items of evidence in his April 20 report that included a witness statement, a DVD surveillance video, a green pill believed to be Vicodin and a metal pill bottle. The state attorney needed to test the pill to make sure it was Vicodin. He asked the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, which contracts with Pinellas Park to store evidence, for the pill and other materials. The Sheriff's Office said it did not have any evidence connected with the case.

The state attorney contacted the officer and, several days later, the Pinellas Park police. Officers questioned the man about the missing evidence and he told a supervisor that he did not remember the shoplifting incident from April, but would attempt to locate the evidence.

By Oct. 14, supervisors had checked several other of the officer's cases and found problems with evidence not being submitted. The man unexpectedly resigned that day.

Police supervisors have since audited police investigations assigned to him going back to July 2009, the captain said. They found that, in many of those cases, evidence collected by him and listed in the police report were not submitted to the sheriff for storage as required. Most of the evidence were DVDs from store surveillance cameras of theft-related crimes. Several cases involved narcotics including marijuana, crack and prescription pills.

Also missing was a .357 revolver he seized during a traffic stop in December 2009. The driver was charged with carrying a concealed firearm.

Pinellas Park police contacted him last November about the gun. The suspect said he still had the gun and turned it over to the police.

Have you or someone you love been arrested for a drug charge or a criminal offense? Then call the St. Petersburg criminal defense attorneys today for a free consultation!

For more information, or to speak directly with experienced St. Petersburg criminal defense lawyers please contact BLAKE & DORSTEN, P.A. at 727.286.6141 or email the lawyers your questions at: info@blakedorstenlaw.com. We are located at 4707 140th Ave N, Suite 104 in Clearwater, across from the criminal courthouse in the airport business center, minutes from Tampa and St. Petersburg.