State auditors discover $500,000 in sheriff's evidence locker

ST. LOUIS -- State auditors found envelopes stuffed with up to $500,000 in the St. Louis sheriff's department's evidence locker, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported in a copyright story Sunday.

And the city's prosecutor, Jennifer Joyce, is laying claim to the cash, figuring the city's general fund -- now $20 million in the red -- could use the money.

"The city needs it," Joyce said. "We're trying to figure out how to get as much of it as possible, to revert to the city. "

Under state law, the sheriff must notify the local prosecutor of seized property so that it can be turned over to the government. The envelopes, found by auditors weeks ago, dated from 1995.

Joyce said that in her decade with the prosecutor's office, the sheriff's department had never told her office of the cash.

On Friday, Joyce was preparing a court motion asking that the money be turned over to the city.

But Jeff Rainford, Mayor Francis Slay's chief of staff, said he wants to ensure that any money from crime victims is returned to the rightful owners.

"But if this is money that came from robbers and other nefarious people, the city would lay claim to that," he said.

A spokesman for Missouri's attorney general said that the state, unaware of the money until Friday, would be interested in finding out if the state is entitled to any of it.

Sheriff James Murphy's spokesman, Mike Guzy, said Friday that the sheriff recently had asked Joyce to go to court to have the money handed over to the city's general revenue.

"We'd love to get rid of all of it," Guzy said. "It's a heavy responsibility."

Auditors from State Auditor Claire McCaskill's office -- auditing Murphy's department since September -- found the money after asking Joyce if they could open sealed envelopes in the sheriff's evidence locker.

Guzy said the money has been accumulating at the sheriff's office since at least 1995 as part of evidence -- including guns and electronic equipment -- that local police have handed to sheriff's deputies along with their suspects.

Audit ongoing

McCaskill spokesman Glenn Campbell declined to discuss the auditors' find because the audit, which Slay requested from Gov. Bob Holden, is ongoing. Campbell said field work for the audit was complete, and that the audit will be made public within two months.

Guzy, who said the found money had been under guard 24 hours a day, blamed Joyce's office for not doing anything with the cash. Because she is the prosecutor, it is her evidence and the sheriff cannot dispose of it until she gets the court to release it, he said.

"It's not our money," Guzy said. "We can't deposit it into a bank. We can't do anything with it."

Joyce said that her office could not have done anything with the cash because the sheriff had never reported that he was holding it as evidence. She said her office had sent letters instructing the sheriff to notify her of any unclaimed property or evidence.

Joyce said the sheriff could photograph the cash for trial, then deposit it into a bank account for safekeeping. "He is the custodian of it, but he has never done that," she said.

Joyce said that unlike Murphy, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the St. Louis Police Department routinely tell her of cash and evidence that need to be forfeited by drug dealers. Just last year, Joyce said, city police handed over $1.8 million forfeited by drug dealers. That money goes to the state, which gives it to area schools.

Joyce said the money could have come from arrested suspects who were never charged, from crime scenes where no suspect was identified, or from cases where suspects pleaded guilty and the evidence was never needed for trial.

Guzy said the sheriff's department can't turn the money over until Joyce gets a court order. Joyce said her investigators will ensure that all of the money has been accounted for.