TAGMET OFFICER INVESTIGATED

District Attorney Reviews More Than Two Years of Cases

CORNING - Allegations that an officer lied about the chain of custody
of evidence has led to the dismissal of at least two drug cases in
Tehama County Superior Court and could affect dozens of others in
Tehama and Glenn counties.

Corning police officer and former Tehama and Glenn Methamphetamine
Enforcement Team agent Andrew Norwood is accused of lying about where
evidence in drug cases was left, not properly packaging evidence and
giving items the same evidence number. More than three grams of
methamphetamine is also missing from among evidence seized in TAGMET
investigations.

Tehama County District Attorney Gregg Cohen said Tuesday his office
is reviewing all of the cases Norwood worked on during his two and a
half years on TAGMET. That includes cases where people have been
convicted and are now serving time.

Norwood was reassigned from TAGMET in November and an internal
investigation has begun, Corning Police Chief Tony Cardenas said last week.

"The outcome of this investigation will very likely affect other
cases," Cohen said. He added that the defense attorneys of people who
were part of cases involving Norwood have been notified about the
allegations and investigation.

"We're going to look and see if we can still go forward (in other
cases) despite Norwood's involvement," Cohen said

Glenn County District Attorney Robert Holzapfel has also been
notified of the internal investigation. He did not return a call for
comment Tuesday.

Cohen said that dismissing the two cases in December had to done "to
make sure no one is in custody who should not be in custody based on
the credibility issue concerning agent Norwood."

A defendant in one of those cases had already been found guilty and
was awaiting sentencing when the case was dismissed.

"I take it very, very seriously when an officer lies on a police
report," Cohen said. He added that if the investigation clears
Norwood, his office can refile the drug cases at a later date.

Evidence from at least three cases were affected. Two of those cases
were dismissed in court in mid-December, according to Tehama County
Superior Court records. The man charged in the third case failed to
appear for court in October and is wanted on a warrant.

According to a memo from TAGMET special agent supervisor Jeff Smith,
three other cases were also mishandled. The memo states that items
including a large amount of marijuana, identification and a 9mm
pistol were reported to the Tehama County Sheriff's Department as
being logged into a temporary storage locker at the TAGMET office.
However the temporary locker log book showed no record of the items.

"I do not know where the evidence in these cases were [sic]
maintained, and I have not approached Agent Norwood to explain where
the items were stored," Smith wrote in the Nov. 8 memo.

Smith writes that he found evidence from several cases - ranging from
a rifle and ammunition to methamphetamine - sitting on Norwood's desk.

It was after this incident that Smith writes he reported the evidence
matter to Cardenas.

It was shortly after Smith met with Cardenas in early November that
Norwood stopped working for TAGMET. He is still employed with the
Corning Police Department, where he has worked since November 2000.

"I'm aware of the allegations and we are conducting an internal
investigation into it," Cardenas said last week. Cardenas said he
could not talk about the internal investigation or the memo.

In supplemental reports to the cases that Smith references in the
memo, Smith writes that the initial reports were "found to contain
some inaccuracies."

Most of the inaccuracies deal with Norwood reporting evidence as
being kept and logged in the temporary evidence lockers.

In the case where three grams of methamphetamine is missing, Norwood
is reported to have kept the evidence in his office until Nov. 1 when
it was logged into the Tehama County Sheriff's Department. On Nov. 9,
Smith reweighed two baggies of methamphetamine and found one bag
weighed 1.8 grams less than originally reported by Norwood, and a
second bag weighed 1.2 grams less.

"As narcotics age, they will dry out and will often weigh less then
their original weight," Smith writes. "However, at this time I do
not have an explanation for the large differences in weights listed
in the original report and the weight I obtained on November 9, 2006."

In another case, four baggies that originally weighed 8.7 grams were
reweighed and found to be .3 grams lighter.

"I believe the .3 grams were lost during evidence processing," Smith
wrote. "... From training and experience I know that it is
unavoidable to lose small amounts of narcotics as the narcotics are
transferred, weighed, and processed."