43
Former undercover officer considers withdrawing plea
A prosecutor said only cocaine residue was left in evidence bags.
LISBON — A former undercover officer for the Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office has said he may try to withdraw his guilty plea to 14 theft charges.
Tom Smith, 49, of Lisbon, spoke Monday after making the plea in common pleas court that could mean up to a year in prison as part of the plea agreement.
He could also spend as little as six months in the Eastern Ohio Corrections Center.
Smith was charged with taking cocaine that had been seized as evidence around 1988, along with a .22-caliber pistol that also was evidence.
Smith’s lawyer, Dominic Frank, said Smith could have faced up to 21 years in prison on all the charges. Each charge could have resulted in 18 months in prison.
Frank said Smith entered into the agreement against his advice.
Smith retired in 2006 after 30 years in law enforcement. Sentencing was set for 1 p.m. July 9.
Smith put blame for the charges on his “poor housekeeping and mismanagement.” He added, “It’s a sad day.”
He said he pleaded guilty to the charges because he could have faced a much harsher sentence.
Smith was a forerunner in making undercover drug buys in the county before the formation of the county’s drug task force in 1991.
John Gamble, an assistant county prosecutor, said Smith had stored material at a local private storage company but fell behind on the rent.
Gamble said the owner contacted Smith but got no response.
In February, the owner opened the locker and found sheriff’s office case files covering about a 21‚Ñ2-year period. The owner contacted the sheriff’s office, which contacted the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, which searched the locker.
Gamble said about 88 sheriff’s office files were in manila folders. Inside the folders were investigation documents and evidence envelopes.
The envelopes contained various types of illegal drugs, including marijuana and cocaine. Each type of drug was kept in a separate bag.
“They were drugs purchased during transactions,” Gamble said.
He said the other drugs were not disturbed, but the cocaine was missing from bags, leaving only a white residue inside them.
Gamble said the total amount of cocaine that was missing was small.
After finding the pattern of missing cocaine in 14 files, Gamble said BCI agents “didn’t go any farther than that.”
Gamble said someone had to know there was evidence, opened the evidence bag and removed the cocaine. He added, “It was too troubling to ignore.”
Gamble said law enforcement agencies typically have procedures to record who has custody of evidence while it is being stored, tested or presented during a trial.
The pistol still had a sheriff’s office evidence tag on it. Another sheriff’s investigator later wrote a note saying the weapon could not be found.
Gamble said the 14 cases involved were reviewed but were unaffected because of the missing evidence.
wilkinson@vindy.com