Thursday, December 1, 2011

BULLETIN; DEBORAH MADDEN: FEDS INDICT FORMER CIVILIAN SAN FRANCISCO POLICE CRIME LAB TECHNICIAN ON CHARGES SHE SKIMMED COCAINE FROM LAB;

(12-01) 18:00 PST SAN FRANCISCO --

A former civilian technician at the San Francisco Police Department's crime laboratory was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday on charges she skimmed cocaine from the lab.

Deborah Madden, 61, of San Mateo was charged with a felony count of acquiring a controlled substance by subterfuge in the indictment handed down by a grand jury in San Francisco.

Madden obtained cocaine by "misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception and subterfuge" from October to December 2009, the indictment said.

Madden is to be arraigned in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Wednesday.

Her attorney, Paul DeMeester said, "The first question that comes to mind is, where is the federal jurisdiction? In other words, what is the federal crime? The Constitution limits the power of the federal government. This is reaching."

The federal case comes nearly a year after state prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence to show that Madden was stealing drugs she was supposed to be testing.

The allegations rocked the Police Department and led to the closure of its drug lab and prosecutors' dismissal of hundreds of drug cases.

Madden left the department in late 2009 just as lab supervisors began to suspect she was stealing drugs. In June, she pleaded guilty to an unrelated felony cocaine possession charge in San Mateo County.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/01/BARH1M79OR.DTL

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;