VETERAN BENSENVILLE POLICE OFFICER IS ACCUSED OF EVIDENCE-TAMPERING

A 14-year veteran of the Bensenville Police Department was indicted Friday
on charges that he switched evidence that eventually was used to convict a
defendant in a 1995 cocaine possession case.

Officer William Wassman, 38, was charged with one count of obstruction of
justice and four counts of official misconduct, said DuPage County State's
Atty. Joseph Birkett in announcing the indictment.

Birkett said the cocaine evidence was requested for trial, but a search for
the package was unsuccessful. Wassman, who was assigned to the evidence room
of the Bensenville Police Department, produced an envelope containing
cocaine a short time later, Birkett said.

Wassman allegedly had taken the cocaine from an unrelated case and marked it
so it could be used in the trial. The officer allegedly had destroyed the
original evidence after it had been used in an earlier trial to convict a
co-defendant in the possession case. Wassman was covering that mistake,
Birkett said.

The defendant in the possession case was convicted and sentenced to
probation. Steps are being taken to vacate the conviction, Birkett said.

Wassman could face up to 5 years in prison if convicted of both obstruction
and official misconduct.