PORTSMOUTH -- The attorney general's office has determined that no criminal action is warranted in in two cases involving guns in the Police Department's evidence room.
One case concerned three police officers who said they took home five guns from among 30 to 40 weapons that were to be melted down about a year ago. They have faced administrative sanctions.
A second investigation, not previously disclosed, concerned the Police Department's inability to account for two additional guns that also were to have been destroyed.
In a letter dated yesterday, Deputy Attorney General Gerald J. Coyne wrote Police Chief Dennis C. Seale that "there is insufficient evidence to support a criminal charge" against any of the three officers who said they took the five guns home.
He also said that a state police investigation has concluded that the Police Department's inability to account for the two additional missing guns probably "resulted from extraordinarily sloppy evidence handling" rather than criminal intent or action on the part of any police officer.
The state police believe the two missing weapons were destroyed at a foundry in Brockton, Mass., as part of the same evidence-room cleanup last September in which the other five guns were taken home, then returned, by the three officers, Coyne wrote.
Regarding the officers' accounts, Coyne wrote that declaring the misconduct "as not criminal is not to endorse, or even to tolerate, the actions of the officers."
But "because the officers involved believed the firearms taken were scheduled for imminent destruction, there was insufficient evidence to prove" that any of them "acted with the criminal intent to deprive another of their property," Coyne said.
Seale, who conducted an internal investigation last spring and also decided against filing criminal charges, asked the attorney general's office to review the case.
But Seale did impose administrative sanctions in early April.
Detective Harry Leonard, a police officer for 23 years, was suspended without pay for 20 days. Patrolman John Huppe, an 11-year veteran who heads the Tactical Response Team, and Detective Steven Hoetzel, who has seven years' experience, were each suspended for 15 days.
The three took home a rifle, a shotgun and three handguns while they were cleaning out the evidence room last September, a routine chore done once or twice a year.
These weapons were among 30 to 40 guns headed for a foundry in Brockton to be destroyed, according to the police.
The internal police investigation began in March, when it was discovered that at least one of the guns to be melted down never arrived at the foundry. In May, after the officers had returned the five guns and served their suspensions, the Police Department discovered that it could not account for two more weapons, according to Coyne's letter. Seale then asked the state police to conduct a separate investigation.
Although the state police could not pinpoint what happened to the two missing guns, its investigation suggested "that it is most likely [that these] two weapons were destroyed," Coyne wrote.
He said the two incidents suggest that the police should review and modify their evidence-handling procedures "to ensure personal accountability whenever evidence is scheduled for destruction."
But Coyne also noted Seale's assurances that such steps have been taken.
Efforts to reach Seale yesterday were unsuccessful.
Gina Macris can be reached at (401) 277-7455 or gmacris [at] projo.com
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