Fallout continues at the Colchester Police Department after the officer in control of the evidence locker was arrested last month for allegedly stealing evidence to fund his heroin addiction.
Chittenden County State’s Attorney T.J. Donovan said he’s now had to throw out five drug cases because evidence against the suspects is missing.
Tyler Kinney was arrested Nov. 10 after a drug suspect named him as an accomplice who’d taken items from the evidence locker, including a gun and various narcotics. Kinney is also accused of taking controlled drugs from the department’s drug take-back bin in the lobby of the police station.
Donovan said two heroin trafficking cases were dismissed because the heroin confiscated in those cases is missing, and he announced today that three marijuana cases were dismissed because the evidence – more than five pounds of marijuana in total – was also unaccounted for.
Donovan said it’s still unknown how many cases might be affected by missing evidence.
“We’re awaiting a report from the FBI,” Donovan said. The federal agency is currently conducting an audit of the evidence locker’s inventory.
Disclosure: Tyler Kinney is the brother of a vice president at VPR.
