The OC Evidence Scandal

A scandal involving the handling of evidence by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department is widening. The department and investigators from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office are reviewing 22,000 cases to see if evidence was appropriately booked. An internal audit in 2018 and a second one in 2019 found some deputies did not book evidence on time or not at all and then lied about it. Fifteen deputies were referred to the OCDA’s office but charges were never filed. Five had been fired and at least nine have been disciplined. Recently the OCDA’s office has discovered 91 cases in which a person pled guilty to a crime that had no evidence or evidence was booked after the plea was made.

[jamesfgray]

I hear a lot of past tense in several of these statements. This hasn't changed. Its still present today. The criminals aren't the ones being prosecuted. It's those doing the investigating and prosecuting.