PORT ANGELES — Another piece of evidence surfaced late in the trial of an evidence officer accused of stealing cash from the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office evidence room.
In the minutes before the jury entered the room Wednesday for the second day of the trial of Staci L. Allison, 41, of Montesano — who is charged with first-degree theft and money laundering — both prosecution and defense attorneys learned of the existence of evidence that may help support the defendant’s case.
That evidence, a notebook, was delivered early Wednesday.
Allison is accused of stealing $8,644 from the sheriff’s evidence room when she worked there from 2003 through 2006.
As much as $51,251 in cash was found missing from the evidence room in November 2006.
Allison is expected to testify this morning after the defense begins to present its case at 9 a.m. in Clallam County Superior Court in the county courthouse at 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.
The green hardcover notebook that turned up Wednesday was listed in evidence logs but was identical to a second book in evidence.
Defense attorney Ralph Anderson and Assistant State Attorney General Scott Marlow agreed that prior to the discovery, they thought they had everything.
But they only had a copy of the cover page of the missing green book, Anderson said.
Marlow, who was asked to prosecute the case only a month ago, immediately called the State Patrol to have the notebook delivered.
Wednesday’s trial proceedings were delayed for about an hour as the contents of the book were examined.
Marlow took the place of Clallam Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly at her request.
Kelly said she requested Marlow take on the case because she was impressed by his work prosecuting Catherine Betts, a former Clallam County Treasurer’s Office cashier who was sentenced Aug. 24 to 12 years in prison for stealing between $617,467 and $793,595 in real estate excise tax proceeds between June 2003 and May 2009.
Kelly also said the move prevents questions of a conflict of interest from being raised.
Her husband, Don Kelly, is a witness in the trial.
It’s unusual for evidence to be missing, Anderson said Wednesday.
“Usually with the State Police, you get more than you wanted, not less,” he said.
The trial was delayed for a year when an evidence box was located.
That box contained documents indicating $5,000 of the missing cash held against Allison had been found.
Prosecution calls last witness
The final prosecution witness, FBI Special Agent Patrick Gahan, wrapped up the prosecution’s witness rolls before noon Wednesday.
Gahan is a white-collar crime specialist and was sent copies of Allison’s financial records to analyze for patterns.
The records showed general financial mismanagement on the part of Allison, including frequent payday loans and overdrafts, Gahan said.
Gahan’s analysis showed that during a 24-month period, while Allison worked in the evidence room, she took no payday loans and, beginning only a few months after Allison began working in the evidence room, $11,000 in cash deposits appeared on bank records.
There were no accompanying payday loan records to match those deposits, nor any other apparent source of income, he said.
During that time, more than $9,000 of the $11,000 in deposits were made, Gahan said.
Marlow had mentioned the amount of $9,500 during his opening arguments Tuesday. On Wednesday, he said that referred not to the amount Allison is accused of stealing but to the amount of unexplained deposits into her account.
There was also a question about expenses that did not show up in bank records.
“Ms. Allison took several overseas trips and a trip to Disneyland,” Gahan said.
There were no bank activities for hotel rooms or spending money, and only two airline tickets were accounted for, Gahan told the jury.
Cross-examination
On cross-examination, Anderson asked Gahan if he had been told of Allison’s living arrangements at the time of those deposits.
Gahan said no.
At the time that Allison stopped getting payday loans and had cash deposits, she was living with her husband, Anderson said.
The frequent payday loans were needed only when Allison and her husband were living separately, and she may have been getting loans from other sources, Anderson said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
