Marijuana (credit: Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)
MINEOLA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) – Marijuana that was to be used as evidence in a Long Island drug case has disappeared from a truck that was transporting it to a Pennsylvania crime lab.
Marc Gann, head of a committee examining problems at the Nassau County police crime lab, said it appears someone had tampered with and potentially stolen some of the evidence that was placed FedEx’s custody.
He said the district attorney’s office told him a shipping box on the FedEx truck had been opened, the marijuana removed and the box resealed.
“It just calls into question the propriety of dealing with a common carrier, like FedEx, for purposes of delivering evidence,” Gann told 1010 WINS. “Perhaps a better course of action would be to use an employee of the police department or the county.”
It’s the latest fallout from the shutdown of the Nassau crime lab. A national accrediting agency has put it on probation for failing to meet protocols deemed essential to proper handling of evidence. Since its closing in February, evidence has been shipped to a lab in Willow Grove, Pa.
FedEx is looking into the possible theft. The DA’s office says it’s investigating.
Gann said the case which the marijuana was connected to is now “completely unprovable.”
“It raises a broader issue about the credibility of the evidence in those other cases that were being transported along with the marijuana,” he said.
Do you think the police should be using common carriers to transport evidence? Let us know below…
(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
24 Comments
Do you think the police should be using common carriers to transport evidence? Let us know below…
Evidence, sure. Drugs? No. Drugs should be legalized. This is a no-brainer.
June 29, 2011 at 11:48 pm
Someones’ laughing their butts off right this very moment.
June 28, 2011 at 4:03 pm
Legalize it. Gary Johnson for President 2012
June 28, 2011 at 2:30 pm
Or vote for the better candidate: RON PAUL 2012!
June 29, 2011 at 10:54 pm
I donated. Did you?
June 29, 2011 at 11:48 pm
isnt it illegal to transport drugs via mail even if its fedex…umm….anywho…should have been transported by personal who is in charge of evidence…dont u think…
June 28, 2011 at 1:32 pm
NO VICTIM , NO CRIME.
June 28, 2011 at 12:40 pm
Think about it.
How do we know if it was even in the box when it was shipped????
It couldn’t have been opened and re-sealed while it was in the truck.
FedEx doesn’t pack the boxes. They pick them up sealed, labeled, and ready to transport. It could have been stolen anywhere it was transferred.
“”POTENTIALLY” stolen some of the evidence that was placed FedEx’s custody”
Obviously, a lawyer.
June 28, 2011 at 12:02 pm
It had to have been the competition: UPS, DHL and USPS. They all diveed it up and dime bagged them for the 4th of July Great Smokeout. They should’ve put some pink dye packs in there….LOL.
June 27, 2011 at 10:18 pm
“Wacky Tobacky”..NRBQ…..Uncommon Denominators..1985
June 27, 2011 at 7:51 pm
What in the world is the garbage in that picture being passed off as cannabis?
June 27, 2011 at 7:36 pm
Looks more like last year’s real Christmas Tree, when ur about to throw it out.
June 28, 2011 at 3:28 am
OF COURSE the police should use common carriers to transport such evidence! Then some justice will prevail in these cases which should not be tried. If they were selling cannabis, no crime was committed. The law may have been broken, but no crime was committed.
June 27, 2011 at 6:32 pm
Only a useless pothead would enjoy this story.
June 27, 2011 at 4:32 pm
your the ignorant one for wasting your time reading/ commenting an article that doesnt interest you.
Your the ignorant one for thinking people are useless.
Your the ignorant one for not seeing the value to yourself, your community, your nation, your planet that cannabis has to offer.
Why don’t you keep your ignorant comments to yourself.
June 27, 2011 at 4:38 pm
ya cannabis is horrible it kills 0 people everyear whereas alcohol/tobacco related deaths number in the hundreds of thousands looks like your the ignorant one…. another typical troll with an IQ smaller then their shoe size
June 29, 2011 at 2:51 pm
That doesn’t look like any wackee tobakee I ever saw.
June 27, 2011 at 3:32 pm
A good day for all. The cops look stupid, and a non violent person who prefers trees to beer is spared jail time and/or fines he/she didn’t deserve. Way to go pigs!
June 27, 2011 at 3:10 pm
GOOD..LET THE COPS CONCENTRATE ON REAL CRIME LIKE MURDER, TERRORISM, RAPE, ETC…ENOUGH WITH THE POT ALREADY!!!!
June 27, 2011 at 3:04 pm
awesome story,, woohoo for the so-called bad guys,, hey that’s us..
That is exactly what we need, vanishing weed, perfect.
The cops are such fools anyway for even chancing a human for a plant,, it just sounds tacky.
June 27, 2011 at 3:03 pm
OK you guys–who smoked the evidence!!?
June 27, 2011 at 2:39 pm
…was THAT what that smell was coming from that truck, and I thought that fog was from the overheated radiator?
June 27, 2011 at 2:30 pm
This is the feel-good story of the day !!!!
Someone scored some free weed off the police -and- someone is not going to jail for some B.S. pot possession charge.
I wonder how much herb was freed from the pigs.
June 27, 2011 at 2:21 pm
DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 27, 2011 at 2:14 pm