DNA Can Catch Burglars Too

On the seventh floor of the Orange County sheriff’s building, forensic scientists have been quietly working on a pilot program to test whether the same DNA evidence that puts murderers behind bars can also send burglars to jail.

Operating with a $495,000 federal grant, several scientists whose priority has been murders and rapes have turned their attention to home and commercial burglaries. The grant money has allowed the county to hire extra staff for the new program.

“We’ve already gotten one guy guilty,” said Assistant Dist. Atty. Debora Lloyd, referring to a suspect who pleaded guilty earlier this month to an apartment burglary.

In the past, police relied on shoe leather. Today’s forensic specialists arrive at crime scenes in gloves. Their best weapon? A swab.

Since 2004, when Dean Gialamas was hired from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, he has run Orange County’s forensic science services.

With the grant from the National Institute of Justice, law enforcement officials are trying to determine whether using DNA, which can cost $2,000 for each test, is economically feasible for solving burglaries and property crimes.

Sheriff Michael S. Carona said the grant was awarded to only five police agencies -- Denver; Phoenix; Topeka, Kansas; the city of Los Angeles; and Orange County.

The Orange County lab has had 171 cases in which DNA helped solve crimes, including 60 murders and other high-profile felonies, Carona said. “We want to see if this is going to be efficient.”

Under the program, the forensics lab will examine 500 current and cold property crimes in southern Orange County and check for hits with evidence gathered from crime scenes and felons.

DNA is usually obtained from blood, semen, saliva, hair, teeth, bone and tissue, Gialamas said. In one case, DNA from a Pepsi can led to the arrest of a murder suspect.

Proposition 69, passed in November 2004, mandates that DNA samples be collected from adults and minors convicted of felonies, as well as from adults arrested on suspicion of murder or certain sex offenses.

Lloyd said the shift of investigative focus of DNA from murders to property crimes was backed by statistics.

“It’s highly unusual for a burglar to be a one-time burglar,” she said. “Once they burglarize and get away with it, they do it again and again.”

Typically, hundreds of burglaries go unsolved, she said. Some investigations lag for years with no suspect because no fingerprints were left, she said.

DNA evidence is different, especially for prosecutors, she said. It increases the chance that suspects will plead guilty, she said. “If we have DNA, it’s a slam dunk.”

Gialamas said the question was whether the same case could have been solved by traditional investigative techniques.

Unlike the television show “CSI,” the lab is toned down and sterile, with fluorescent lighting. Scientists wear white smocks and cotton masks to avoid contaminating evidence.

Each room is devoted to an investigatory step: screening evidence, extracting samples, establishing gender and other characteristics from the DNA, and analysis.

Evidence such as clothing is kept in bags and stored in a refrigerator to prevent cellular material from degenerating. Once the DNA is extracted, it makes its way through the lab in a tiny tube, growing in a medium that causes it to multiply, then is analyzed by searching the database for a match.

Although the gadgetry on television is similar to real life, Gialamas said, the difference is how it is applied.

In high-profile cases, tests can be done in 48 hours. But typically they take several weeks because of the case load, he said.

With the new project, Gialamas said, the county’s forensic scientists are taking DNA to another level, “applying it to help investigate property crimes,” which most crime labs in the country are not doing.