Ex-Sheriff’s Dept. Worker Linked to Missing Cash

A former Sheriff’s Department employee who worked in the property room last year is under investigation for possibly taking $1,600 from evidence in a Superior Court murder trial.

The money was part of $2,300 seized by sheriff’s deputies last year after a deadly shootout in Newbury Park between two liquor store robbers and an undercover team of Los Angeles police officers.

But when authorities tried to photocopy the cash so it could be returned to the liquor store owners, only $700 remained in an evidence envelope.

Deputy Janice Clancy testified Wednesday during a hearing on the missing money that an investigation is underway and that a former employee, who is not a peace officer, is a suspect.

“The person we are investigating is no longer employed by the Sheriff’s Department,” she added. She did not identify the suspect.

Sheriff’s officials said Wednesday they have not arrested anyone in connection to the missing money. Beyond that, Capt. Larry Robertson said he could not comment on the investigation.

“Under the advice of the D.A.’s office, we can’t comment on the situation,” he said.

But Robertson did say the missing cash has led sheriff’s officials to reevaluate the way evidence is handled in the property room.

“Now that we have determined we have a problem, we are doing everything we can to address it and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said.

The money was placed in an evidence envelope after the June 26, 1995, shootout in which one of the robbers was killed by LAPD officers.

The other robber, Robert Wayne Cunningham of Reseda, is on trial on a murder charge for his role in the shooting. Prosecutors say the 26-year-old should be held responsible for his partner’s death on the grounds that he provoked the gunfight. Cunningham has admitted committing the robbery but denied starting the shooting.

Cunningham’s trial was briefly sidetracked three weeks ago when a district attorney investigator discovered that some of the money was missing, and Superior Court Judge Stephen Z. Perren ordered a hearing on the matter.

On Wednesday, Deputy Dist. Atty. Don Glynn called three witnesses to testify about the missing cash.

Clinton Crow, a service technician who worked in the property room last year, said he counted and documented $2,300 in the envelope on June 30, 1995--four days after the Newbury Park shooting.

“There was $2,300 in this envelope when I counted it,” Crow said, holding up the brown Manila envelope with gloved hands.

But investigator Michael Barnes said that when he opened the envelope more than a year later to photocopy the cash, there was only $700 in it.

“I started Xeroxing the money,” Barnes testified. “I realized what I Xeroxed could not add up to $2,300.”

Outside the courtroom, Deputy Public Defender Gary Windom said entries on the evidence envelope indicate that a technician had a question about the money and had it brought out on July 6, 1995.

“It was initialed by that individual,” Windom said. But he said he does not know whether that person is the suspect in the case.

Windom said he expects the jury will be instructed about the missing cash.

“I don’t think it affects the case very much,” he said.

If anything, the missing money raises questions about the integrity of law enforcement officials who were responsible for the evidence, he said, explaining that it could raise doubts in the minds of jurors who have heard police officers testify during the trial.

“Many jurors believe police officers have more integrity, are more believable,” Windom said. “Now, during the course of this trial we learn that money is missing and missing by someone in the Sheriff’s Department.”