STORY: "FDLE (Florida Department of Law Enforcement) chemist Joseph Graves, arrested for stealing drug evidence," published by WTSP on February 5, 2014.
GIST: A Florida Department of Law Enforcement chemist has resigned following allegations he swapped out prescription pain pills in a drug case for over-the-counter medication.
Joseph Graves, who worked for the agency as a crime lab analyst supervisor, submitted his letter of resignation on Monday afternoon. Tuesday evening, the FDLE announced he'd been arrested around 6:30 p.m. at the Escambia County Jail. Graves was charged with grand theft, 12 counts of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and nine counts of trafficking in illegal drugs. He has since been released from jail on bond. The FDLE investigation launched in January when officials noticed prescription pain pills were missing from the jail's evidence room, and only from cases Graves had been assigned. Officials say the investigation continues, and they will inspect evidence from all cases handled by Graves' between 2006 and now- a total of 2,600 cases involving 80 law enforcement agencies form 35 counties.........It's not immediately clear how many of the 2,600 cases were compromised, but FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey said it potentially means drug charges will have to be dropped and prisoners released if determined the chemist tampered with evidence.
Hernando County his among the affected counties and four of its cases are now in question. Hernando Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Michael Maurer previously told 10 News, "It is disheartening. FDLE is a top notch agency. Background checks are done. It's a big event.""
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.wtsp.com/news/article/355644/19/FDLE-chemist-Joseph-Graves-arrested-for-stealing-drug-evidence
See Justin J. McShane, in "The Truth of Forensic Science, who blogs: "Where is the indictment of the laboratory? Were there no other employees there? Where were the supervisors? There won’t be any as this is yet another in a long line of BS excuses I call the The Rogue Chemist Excuse."
http://www.thetruthaboutforensicscience.com/joseph-graves-allegations/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
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/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
I look forward to hearing from readers at:
hlevy15@gmail.com.
