Melrose detective is probed in missing drugs

The detective in charge of the evidence room for the Melrose Police Department is under investigation in connection with missing confiscated drugs, and a supervisor said the lost evidence could unravel all of the city's pending criminal cases in court, according to a police report obtained by the Globe.

Melrose Police Chief Richard M. Morrissey suspended Detective Kevin J. Stanton with pay on Jan. 26 after he failed a lie-detector test about the missing evidence, according to an investigative report by his supervisor. A month later, the department told Stanton he was the subject of a criminal investigation. He has not been charged.

The allegations surfaced in November, after a Middlesex County prosecutor relayed a tip to Melrose police about improperly discarded evidence, according to the report filed in March by Sergeant Barry M. Campbell. Campbell called Stanton, who told him that he had flushed old drug evidence down the toilet.

Stanton later changed his story and admitted he had taken and used a batch of narcotic Percocet tablets and flushed other drugs down the toilet, said the report.

``I told him that by his actions, he had potentially jeopardized every case that the Melrose Police Dept. currently has [in] the court system," wrote Campbell, who runs what had been a four-member detective bureau until Stanton went on administrative leave.

Yesterday, Campbell said he was no longer involved in the probe.

Campbell tried to interview Stanton after telling him in late February that he was the focus of a criminal probe, his report said. But Stanton hired a lawyer, Kenneth Anderson, who notified police his client would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

No interrogation took place, Campbell said.

Stanton, 40, of Melrose, did not return phone messages left yesterday at his home. Anderson said that Stanton has hired another lawyer, but that his former client ``denies any wrongdoing."

Mayor Robert J. Dolan said that, given the small size of the Melrose Police Department -- it has 47 sworn officers for the city of 29,000 -- and concerns that tainted evidence could imperil pending criminal cases, his city has asked the Middlesex district attorney's office to help in the investigation.

The allegations are stunning, he said, particularly because Stanton had an unblemished 12-year career and is the son of a retired Melrose police officer. ``His record is spotless, and he had many actions in which he performed above and beyond as a detective in very dangerous situations," Dolan said.

Emily J. LaGrassa, a spokeswoman for Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley, said prosecutors have notified defense lawyers with open criminal cases that the missing evidence could affect them.

A Middlesex prosecutor called Melrose police Nov. 2 with a tip about improperly tossed drug evidence, said Campbell's report.

Campbell promptly called Stanton, who told him that he had flushed unspecified pills from a closed Superior Court case down the toilet, said Campbell's report. Only after he tossed the evidence, Stanton told Campbell, did he learn that prosecutors wanted to reopen the case and needed it.

In response to his comments, police seized Stanton's keys to the evidence room. Later, Stanton told Campbell that he had discarded drug evidence in several other cases that were closed or involved defendants who died.

On Nov. 10, Stanton gave a urine sample that showed he had no illicit drugs in his body, said Campbell's report.

But when he took a polygraph test, it showed that Stanton had apparently lied about whether he had used any missing drugs.

When confronted, Stanton ``admitted that he had used under 10 Percocet pills," the report said.

Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com.