PORT ANGELES — A Clallam County judge ruled Thursday that the case against a former Clallam County Sheriff’s Office employee accused of stealing $8,644 from the evidence room will proceed to trial.
The case is scheduled to go to trial Feb. 14.
The case, long stymied by delays since first-degree theft and money laundering charges were filed against Staci L. Allison on May 29, 2009, had been in limbo since October, when the defense filed a motion to dismiss the case due to the late discovery of evidence.
The evidence — a box of documents from the State Patrol, which investigated the theft, and the executive summary of the agency’s audit of the evidence room — wasn’t discovered by the prosecution until a week before the case was set for trial in September.
As a result, Allison’s attorney, Ralph Anderson, argued that the county Prosecuting Attorney’s Office violated its legal requirement to provide evidence to the defense and that charges should be dismissed.
No dismissal
But Judge Ken Williams concluded in his opinion that the late discovery of the documents is not “egregious enough” to warrant dismissal of the case.
“I’m disappointed, but this is just another step in the process,” Anderson said.
County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly, who has been prosecuting the case since October, said the office is “very pleased” by the ruling and that she looks forward to the case going to trial.
Anderson is also seeking to remove the prosecuting attorney from the case because of a potential conflict of interest.
He said he plans to call her husband, Don Kelly, as his first witness when the trial begins.
The Sheriff’s Office hired Don Kelly, a former sergeant, to organize the evidence room after it became aware of the missing money. During that work, he found $5,000 in an envelope apparently hidden in the evidence room.
Oral arguments heard
Oral arguments were heard on the motion Thursday.
No ruling has been made.
Allison, a former evidence technician who now lives in Montesano, is accused of stealing the money and deleting computer records to cover the thefts.
The thefts were discovered when the Sheriff’s Office in November 2006 found 129 empty evidence bags — which once contained $51,251 — stuffed in a plastic tube in the evidence room.
Allison has been charged with stealing a fraction of that because that’s the amount that she is known to have deleted from the computer records, Sheriff Bill Benedict said.
Anderson said he expects that the trial date will be rescheduled.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
