Original Blog Entry: Marijuana Vanishes From FedEx Truck

truesee — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 14:53:05 GMT

Marijuana In Long Island Drug Case Disappears During Transport

June 27, 2011 3:01 PM

Marijuana (credit: Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

MINEOLA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) Marijuana that was to be used as evidence in a Long Island drug case has disappeared from a truck that was transporting it to a Pennsylvania crime lab.

Marc Gann, head of a committee examining problems at the Nassau County police crime lab, said it appears someone had tampered with and potentially stolen some of the evidence that was placed FedEx s custody.

He said the district attorney s office told him a shipping box on the FedEx truck had been opened, the marijuana removed and the box resealed.

It just calls into question the propriety of dealing with a common carrier, like FedEx, for purposes of delivering evidence, Gann told 1010 WINS. Perhaps a better course of action would be to use an employee of the police department or the county.

It s the latest fallout from the shutdown of the Nassau crime lab. A national accrediting agency has put it on probation for failing to meet protocols deemed essential to proper handling of evidence. Since its closing in February, evidence has been shipped to a lab in Willow Grove, Pa.

FedEx is looking into the possible theft. The DA s office says it s investigating.

Gann said the case which the marijuana was connected to is now completely unprovable.

It raises a broader issue about the credibility of the evidence in those other cases that were being transported along with the marijuana, he said.

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