East New Mexico News

A decent sum of money – $8,250 – is missing from a Roosevelt County Sheriff's Office (RCSO) evidence locker, and no one seems to know who took it. 

Officials are not even sure when the money, reported missing in January, was actually taken. The New Mexico State Police (NMSP) investigation shows that any number of individuals could have swiped the cash. 

A report by NMSP agent Andrew Martinez shows that policies and evidence protections were lacking, noting that anyone in the RCSO could have had access to the cash at any time. 

“Due to the amount of time that has elapsed, the amount of personnel that had access to the temporary evidence room and lockers, and the disclosure of the combination to those lockers, I am unable to determine who took or when the currency may have been taken,” Martinez wrote in his report.

His report showed that the evidence had not been inventoried or moved into the larger evidence vault since it was seized in 2017. Many reasons were given for this, including inadequate ventilation in the vault, vault auditing, and not enough room in the vault. Martinez also found that there are no cameras in the evidence room or vault.

The report also says that the same code was used on all of the combination padlocks on the temporary lockers. Only two employees were authorized to have access to the combination, but the code had not been changed in so long that others more than likely knew it. 

Another RCSO employee reported that everyone knew the passcode to the temporary evidence room. They also said that other necessities were kept in there, including vehicle keys, records, a medical cabinet and office supplies.

“Department personnel lack guidance and training in the day-to-day handling of evidence, especially currency,” Martinez wrote in his report. “This became evident during the interviews as they gave varying degrees of understanding and knowledge on the subject.”

Sheriff Malin Parker said he did not have access to the evidence lockers for integrity reasons. He did acknowledge that the money should have been transferred to the district court or the county treasurer's office. 

District Attorney Andrea Reeb declined to prosecute.