According to the Boston Globe, the Braintree (MA) Police Department released a report on Wednesday that at least 60 guns, drugs and more than $400,000 cash went missing from the department’s evidence room,
The scandal, which involves evidence dating back to 1999, means up to 400 cases may need to be dismissed because of lost or tainted evidence, according to Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey.
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Officials have not announced what prompted the investigation, but prosecutors have asked Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey to investigate whether crimes were committed.
The officer in charge of the evidence room, Susan Zopatti, killed herself in May after learning of the audit. Shortly after her death, police recovered two of the missing firearms at Zopatti’s home.
The audit, released at a press conference Wednesday, listed 4,709 pieces of narcotics evidence — mostly bags of cocaine — that disappeared. An additional 38 pieces of narcotics evidence were declared compromised because they were opened, left unpackaged, or had some pieces missing, The Patriot Ledger reported.