JUDGE REJECTS DRUG-THEFT CHARGES AGAINST DIA WORKER

A federal judge on Friday dismissed charges against a Denver International
Airport employee who was accused of stealing drugs from an incinerator
where they should have been burned.

Stephen Martinez, 40, was arrested Tuesday after authorities said they
found cocaine and more than 100 pounds of marijuana at his Lakewood home.
Police also confiscated $9,000 in cash from the incinerator operator's home.

U.S. Magistrate Patricia Coan ruled Friday at Martinez's preliminary
hearing that federal prosecutors failed to establish jurisdiction, the
defendant's identification and whether the suspected drugs had been field
tested.

"That probable cause has not been found," Coan said in dismissing the charges.

Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for U.S. Attorney John Suthers, said the
dismissal "is relatively unusual."

Dorschner said the suspected drugs were found in a Lakewood home, which is
within the state and the district of the court, and that prosecutor Matthew
Kirsch identified Martinez in court as the man who was arrested.

"We certainly said that was him," Dorschner said.

The drugs were being tested in a laboratory Friday, he said.

"The defendant said he knew they were illegal drugs and he took them from
the incinerator and stored them at his house," Dorschner said. "Field test
aside, he knew he was committing a crime."

Procedurally, after a preliminary hearing dismissal, prosecutors can
present a case to a grand jury to obtain an indictment. Because of grand
jury secrecy guidelines, however, Dorschner could not say whether
prosecutors will do that in the Martinez case.

Martinez was released from custody after the dismissal. His attorney,
Ferdinand Torres, could not be reached for comment.

Martinez is on paid "investigatory leave" from his job at DIA, airport
spokesman Steve Snyder said.

Snyder would not say how long the leave might last or what Martinez is
paid, citing confidentiality of personnel matters.

The airport is no longer burning drugs for law enforcement agencies or
judicial districts while it re-evaluates the contractual practice.

Prosecutors said the drugs found in Lakewood had been evidence in court cases.