His stories have led to the closure of a chain of badly-run group homes, the end of a state program that placed criminals in inappropriate public jobs and the creation of a civilian oversight office for the Orange County Sheriff's Department, among other things. His work has been recognized by the National Headliner Club, the Associated Press Sports Editors, the California Newspaper Publishers Association, the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association and the Orange County Press Club. Tony Saavedra is an investigative reporter specializing in legal affairs for the Orange County Register. Less than 1 percent of the drug evidence - 37 items - was booked after a month. The property held by deputies the longest were photos and videos, with 3.3 percent held longer than a month and currency, with 2.6 percent held longer than a month. The study also showed that 27 percent of the deputies had held onto evidence for 31 days or longer.Īmong the worst offenders were deputies assigned to the north part of the county, averaging 4.3 days to book evidence. The audit showed a “lack of consistent and accurate entries,” “no system of accountability” and “insufficient booking software.” The audit also found that nearly 85 percent of the evidence was booked within five days, with 2 percent - or 418 pieces of evidence - booked after 20 to 30 days, and 1.5 percent - or 296 items of evidence - booked after 31 days. Investigators reviewed more than 27,000 evidence bookings and more than 1,500 deputies. “God only knows how much evidence has been lost, mixed into other cases, kept, given to informants or concealed because it helped the defendant.”īraun said the audit was initiated in January 2018 after the department learned that some evidence was not booked according to policy, which is at the end of the deputy’s shift. “Defendants had the right to know that this audit concluded that nearly all of the deputies in the field and jails during those two years kept … evidence in their cars, homes, desks or wherever else they wanted to store rather than booking it,” Sanders said. The department also developed procedures requiring supervisors to check that all property and evidence has been booked prior to approving any related reports,” Braun said.Īssistant Public Defender Scott Sanders, who for years has alleged that the Sheriff’s Department was withholding evidence from defense attorneys, criticized the agency for not releasing the results of the audit until contacted by the news group. “The department (has taken) immediate measures to ensure personnel were educated on the policy and procedure for booking evidence. Sheriff’s spokesperson Carrie Braun said the department has improved the booking of evidence, which in most cases was kept by the deputies. The audit, obtained by the Southern California News Group, found that 30 percent of the evidence was booked late. One official from the Public Defender’s Office said thousands of criminal cases could be affected. Some bookings were tardy by more than a month, creating questions about chain of custody. The explosive audit found that nearly one-third of the evidence collected from February 2016 to February 2018 was booked beyond the agency’s one-day policy. Sheriff’s officials offered no further information on the cases, citing a state police confidentiality law. Besides the four terminations, seven deputies were disciplined and four cases are pending. Four Orange County sheriff’s deputies have been fired after a two-year audit by the Sheriff’s Department found systemic abuses in the handling of evidence, the Southern California News Group has learned.įifteen deputies were criminally investigated in connection with the probe, but the District Attorney’s Office declined to file charges.
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