PORT ORCHARD, — A 29-year-old Kentucky man has been charged with a 2007 rape in Washington state, after police discovered that critical evidence had been stored for years in a police evidence room refrigerator.
The Kitsap Sun says forensic evidence in an alleged rape was collected and stored but never sent to a crime lab for processing.
Cmdr. Dale Schuster of the Port Orchard Police Department says evidence should have been sent to the Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory in 2007 or 2008.
He discovered the oversight last summer while going through an evidence list and assigned a new investigator to the case. He says the department is reviewing its handling of the case and looking into possible disciplinary action.
