Delaware State Police Investigation Into Compromised Drug Evidence

Wilmington- Delaware State Police Criminal Investigative Unit along with the Delaware Attorney General’s Office initiated a joint investigation over the course of the last month, after the discovery of drug evidence submitted for analysis to the Controlled Substances Lab within the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner was found to be compromised after being returned to the submitting police agencies. The identified compromises included drug evidence tampered with, missing, and/or substituted.

The Delaware State Police and Department of Justice initiated the investigation, including internal audits of police evidence lockers which detected discrepancies amongst several Delaware law enforcement agencies that existed between drug evidence submitted to the OCME Controlled Substances Lab and evidence returned to police evidence lockers in sealed envelopes after analysis and testing.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is fully cooperating in the investigation and all drug evidence has been secured. Based on the nature of the ongoing investigation, the Controlled Substances Lab has discontinued drug analysis; however, all other functions of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner remain uninterrupted and fully functional.

No further information will be released at this time as to not jeopardize any of these efforts by discussing the investigative details.