'Evidence destroyed': Audit finds mold, 'serious issues' in Buncombe Sheriff evidence room

ASHEVILLE - A recent assessment found the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office evidence room is over capacity and auxiliary storage areas have a worsened mold issue, which was first discovered in 2019.

While pursuing accreditation from the Commission of Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Sheriff Quentin Miller requested a third-party assessment of the evidence room. CALEA sets standards for every aspect of law enforcement agencies, from training to the use of deadly force to evidence keeping.

Miller has been the sheriff since 2018.

The audit was completed on May 9 by the nonprofit North Carolina Association for Property and Evidence, according to an Aug. 14 news release from the sheriff's office.

“You could actually smell the mold in the air. … You could tell that conditions were right for it,” said Tim Culp, executive director of N.C. Association for Property and Evidence, who wrote the report on the evidence room.

The Sheriff's Office holds evidence in a main evidence room and a small drug room at different locations, according to the report obtained by the Citizen Times. Both locations also have metal storage containers and vehicles where property and evidence are stored.

Property in the main evidence and drug rooms are protected from damage, the report shows. However, a "big issue" was found with the shipping containers "having mold, mildew, moisture and temperature extremes."

At least two of the shipping containers contained homicide evidence — one marked as a cold case — and another contained rape evidence.

"There was literally water dripping from the ceiling, the paint is peeling, packages have signs of moisture that has faded and washed away the marking on packages and a bad smell of mildew," the report reads.

Much of the evidence had been placed in storage tubs with lids. One tub that was opened had water dripping from inside the lid, "which is destroying the evidence (this was a comforter from a rape case)," according to the report.

"These sealed totes trap moisture and promote mold and spore growth creating a risk not only of damaging the evidence, but pose a tremendous health risk to employees," wrote Culp and Nick Zecher, who conducted the assessment.

Biological evidence needs to be removed and placed in an environmentally controlled area "without any delay," they wrote.

"Failure to take action could subject someone to felony charges or at least create problems for the agency," the report said.

The report also found there was no refrigerator or freezer being used for items requiring refrigeration, and ventilation in the main evidence and drug rooms needs improvement.

Culp said he personally didn’t open any containers, bags or items that might have biological evidence since those are sealed and need to be inspected in a controlled environment with appropriate personnel. The mold he did see was on seized items, such as evidence in stolen property cases, for example.

“If those have mold, the obvious thing would be, well, everything else in here may have mold on it,” Culp said.

An issue with mold was first found in a 2019 audit of the evidence room, and it’s worsened since then, the sheriff’s office news release said. Sheriff’s spokesperson Christina Esmay said "no steps were taken" to alleviate the problem at the time.

"Subsequently, (the Sheriff's Office) began moving biological sensitive evidence to safe storage per the N.C. State Crime Lab recommendations," Esmay added.

The Citizen Times asked whether any evidence was destroyed, but Esmay said that "determination will come from the State Crime Lab."

This recent assessment was the first time NCAPE conducted an inspection in Buncombe County, according to Culp. They also found the primary evidence room was overcapacity.

Part of the problem is a large backlog of old evidence that needs court orders to be purged, according to the report. In 2023, just under 5,000 items were taken into evidence but only 600 items were disposed of — an increase the report said, "is not sustainable."

Esmay said the Sheriff's Office is working with Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams to clear the backlog of old evidence.

“Evidence rooms are one of the most often overlooked areas,” Culp said.

“From a health and safety standpoint, and for protection of evidence, you want it where (evidence) is not crammed in there, to where there’s air that flows around it to help prevent moisture.”

Other findings include:

• No regular inventories or audits are conducted. The last full inventory was done in 2015, but no documentation of the inventory or its results was completed. (Van Duncan was the sheriff from 2006-2018). Esmay said they are currently conducting an inventory.
• There was no written procedure for purging evidence or property management. The directives were verbal or word of mouth. Evidence room personnel had trouble with officers not responding or complying with requests, the report said. A policy has now been written and is awaiting final approval from Sheriff's Office leadership.

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What is being done to resolve the issue?

The Sheriff’s Office is undergoing an additional inventory of evidence to make sure “all evidence is appropriately catalogued, stored, and managed,” the release said. Evidence technicians will treat and store affected evidence according to state law and North Carolina State Crime Lab standards.

"We will ensure that our evidence management system follows best practices and accreditation standards,” Miller said in the news release.

“We are committed to resolving these issues and preventing future administrations from encountering the same problem."

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After NCAPE’s assessment, Miller established a Property and Evidence Project Team, which will work to ensure the county evidence room complies with state law and CALEA standards. The sheriff is also working with county leaders in hopes of using forfeiture funds to increase storage capacity by adapting an existing county building, according to the news release.

The Sheriff's Office is not releasing the location of where the evidence is being moved "to ensure safe transfer and storage," Esmay said.

On top of relocating current evidence, the sheriff’s office is working with Buncombe County courts, District Attorney’s Office and Buncombe County government to resolve an evidence backlog, the release said.

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Ryley Ober is the Public Safety Reporter for Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at rober@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter @ryleyober

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: 'Evidence destroyed': Audit finds mold, 'serious issues' in Buncombe Sheriff evidence room