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Thursday, May 08, 2008

Deputy May Have Taken Evidence

By Laura Nesbitt
Mountain View Telegraph
      A Torrance County Sheriff's Department deputy working as evidence custodian may have been taking the goods.
       Deputy Rodney Rector is under investigation by the New Mexico State Police for allegedly making off with evidence in several Torrance County cases.
       Rector had been reassigned to work as evidence custodian when he injured himself about three months ago and was unable to complete sheriff's academy training, said Peter Olson, communications director for the state Department of Public Safety.
       Rector has been a deputy for about 1½ years.
       Rector has been placed on leave while the investigation is completed, according to the Torrance County Sheriff's Department.
       Rector's girlfriend called deputies on April 18 about 10:30 a.m. to make sure that his move out of her house was uneventful.
       “She called to make sure it went smoothly. While (deputies) were there, they discovered that there was a lot of stuff in the garage — evidence from cases” that hadn't made “it to the evidence room,” Olson said.
       “That's when the sheriff's department investigation started and that's when they turned it over to the State Police,” Olson said.
       When deputies had gone to Rector's home in Estancia on April 18 and allegedly saw TCSO deputy uniform shirts “in plain view lying on the bed,” even though Rector had told TCSO that he had already turned in all the items issued to him by the department, according to the search warrant affidavit filed in magistrate court.
       Olson was unable to say why Rector had been asked to turn in his uniform and other equipment.
       “As the door of the room was closed to check behind (it), a (Remington) long rifle gun cardboard box was observed lying against the wall. This box is consistent with a reported stolen box containing a stolen weapon,” the search warrant states.
       Along with “assorted” sheriff's department case files, deputies also found a marijuana pipe, marijuana grinder, a red bong and a bag of marijuana, according to an inventory sheet attached to the search warrant.
       Olson was unable to say how much marijuana was contained in the bag.
       “There may be other search warrants, too,” Olson said when asked what items were found by deputies.
       The case was received by New Mexico State Police Agent Pat Ness at the end of April.
       Ness will attempt to match all the evidence found using internal TCSO case files, which will be a “laborious process,” Olson said.
   

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