Law enforcement veterans clean up Mattawa Police mess

MATTAWA - A state audit found all kinds of problems at the Mattawa Police Department over the last 20 years, and one - the evidence room - was just too big for Chief John Turley to handle.

So he put $5,000 into his budget to pay for help and hired two law enforcement veterans who understand the rules for securing evidence. They are retired Adams County Sheriff Doug Barger and current Grant County Sheriff's Department Support Specialist Leslie Gonzales.

Turley brought in Gonzales first, shortly after he arrived. He had worked with her at the GCSO and knew her capabilities.

"She was an administrative assistant to two sheriff's, in charge of taking care of records and evidence," Turley said.

Barger, who retired in August, supervised Turley when Turley worked for the Adams County Sheriff. He came in October to fill the administrative assistant shoes while the regular AA was on maternity leave. After the regular AA came back, he started to help Gonzales.

Gonzales and Barger work on a part-time basis. Gonzales comes in once a week. Barger comes in once or twice. He's also mentoring Turley on how to put the PD back together in time to pass the next audit.

The decision to hire help has worked out well. Gonzales and Barger have pretty much paid for themselves. The recent sale of guns to a certified dealer brought in $4,301.

More items will be sold. More money will come in. Stuff that is no longer needed for cases is destroyed, converted to use or sold. Some has been in the evidence room 20 years.

"We destroy all the drugs that are no longer needed as evidence," Turley said.

The $4,301 sale involved 44 fire arms. At the same time, 22 were destroyed and two were returned to their owners.

Coming up for disposal soon are four brand new wheels and tires.

Barger said neither the case they are connected to nor the owner has been determined.

More than half the stuff has been disposed of, Gonzales said.

Everything that remains is catalogued and organized. The job is only days from being finished, she said.

Then it will be up to Turley and his staff to keep abreast of evidence custody rules and live up to them.