Drug cases thrown out during Braintree police evidence audit

BRAINTREE, Mass. — A growing scandal involving police evidence is leaving more than three years of criminal cases in limbo.

The evidence room at the Braintree Police Department is under investigation, and at least five criminal cases have been thrown out because they relied on evidence from that room.

FOX25 News has learned the police chief requested a third-party audit after concerns about the evidence room surfaced.

A source told FOX25 News the audit was requested right before a 50-year-old officer who had been assigned to evidence lock up since 2013 died in mid-May.

Attorneys like Peter Elikann are working on other cases that may be dismissed, because the integrity of the case relies on a thorough chain of custody.

"You don't know if things have been added to it, things have been subtracted. You don't know if someone has tampered with it," attorney Peter Elikann told FOX25.

Braintree's mayor told FOX25 the town is awaiting the final audit and that "The Town of Braintree also recognizes that the initial findings require changes that need to be made in the handling of evidence by the Braintree Police Department."

Cox Media Group