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Lawsuit alleges police mishandled money, guns, fetuses

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By Dave Greber, Staff Writer Updated 9:29 AM Monday, May 18, 2009

Improper data entry and documentation has led to a “troubling” situation in the property room of the Middletown Division of Police, according to a civil lawsuit filed in Butler County Common Pleas Court.

Inattention to detail and a lack of effort on behalf of Middletown police officer Kim Robinson — a 20-year veteran assigned to the department’s property room — resulted in the loss of money, guns and even the mishandling of two fetuses, according to an internal investigation report. The report is part of the lawsuit, which was filed last month by the city.

Middletown City Council could discuss updates to the lawsuit when members gather Tuesday, May 19, said Councilman Anthony “Tony” Marconi.

A process to rectify the “sloppy, unorganized recording keeping and poor property handling” began in October 2007 and wrapped up in March 2008, according to the investigation report.

The department’s performance regarding its property room nearly cost the division its accreditation status in 2008, according to a July 2008 memo by City Manager Judith Gilleland.

“The Chief stated that Officer Robinson took over the property room in less than desirable circumstances, however, the condition worsened during the seven years that Officer Robinson was in charge of the Property Room,” Gilleland wrote.

Robinson’s performance — and her response to the investigation — also cost her a one-day suspension some seven months after her property room responsibility was removed, something she and the Middletown Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 36 disputed.

On Jan. 14, an arbitrator agreed with Robinson’s position, and requested the city revoke the suspension and issue the officer missed pay.

The civil lawsuit requests a Butler County judge settle the dispute.

The internal investigation report, dated April 27, 2008, offers the specifics of the case, which includes property that was forgotten about, improperly tagged, went missing or not destroyed on schedule. It also highlights Robinson’s responses when confronted by her boss.

In one situation, Robinson admitted to receiving 11 e-mails from a Middletown detective from October 2005 to January 2006 requesting evidence be destroyed. Of the 11 cases, three were disposed of properly, according to the investigation report.

Robinson’s response? “It looks like I should have,” she told Lt. John Magill.

“She said she couldn’t tell if they were destroyed or not. There were more than 40 cases,” Magill wrote.

Another report states a .32-caliber handgun — one of two taken as evidence in a 2000 case — was missing.

In April 2008, 56 blood and urine samples were found in the property room. Of those, 49 should have been destroyed, according to the investigation report.

“She stated that it was difficult to keep up with cases that had to be destroyed because she had to look up each case and court record to see if case evidence could be disposed of,” Magill wrote.

A computer program that keeps track of evidence is partially to blame, the investigation report states, but doesn’t account for the more than 450 items entered into the program incorrectly.

Robinson also insisted to her supervisor in 2006 she was capable of doing the job herself, according to the report.

Other findings in the internal investigation include:

• More than $150,000 found in a safe that should have been handed over to the city’s finance department;

• A bag of $1,224 in a safe marked “excess jail money”;

• More than $9,000 found in a desk drawer;

• At least 50 to 100 items in the property room that were supposedly destroyed but were not;

Robinson is also accused of forgetting about two fetuses that were found in an evidence freezer, only one of which included a proper identification tag, according to the investigation. The fetuses were evidence in two separate cases — a rape in 2005 and unlawful sexual conduct in 2006.

“This is another example of a complete disregard to following proper procedure in dealing with this very sensitive type of evidence,” wrote Sgt. Walter Scott Reeve in a follow-up report.

Steps were taken to address the property room problems, according to a memo from Reeve on March 12, 2008. These steps included other officers spending more than 1,260 hours clearing and destroying property, fixing computer errors, returning items to their owners and cleaning.

The city also spent more than $20,000 on shelving units that were installed last year.

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