Posted on 03/11/2004 6:55:04 PM PST by 11th Earl of Mar
By BREE FOWLER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
DETROIT (AP) - A once-celebrated trainer and handler of cadaver-sniffing dogs pleaded guilty to federal charges that she planted bones and other evidence in cases she worked.
Sandra M. Anderson, 43, pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges that included obstruction of justice and making false statements.
The charges carry up to 30 years in prison, but under federal sentencing guidelines Anderson likely will receive between 18 months and two years in prison. No sentencing date was set.
Prosecutors said Anderson faked evidence in several cases in Michigan and Ohio. They said she planted bones in search areas and used her own body fluids to stain a saw blade, coins and a piece of cloth.
"The defendant's actions seriously undermined the ability of dedicated law enforcement officials to investigate crimes and bring those responsible to justice," prosecutor R. Alexander Acosta said in a statement.
Anderson's lawyer did not immediately return a call for comment. Anderson's home telephone has been disconnected.
No one answered the phone at the Sanford-based Great Lakes Search and Rescue of Michigan K-9 Unit, the organization founded by Anderson.
Anderson and her dog Eagle, a Doberman-German shorthair pointer mix, were invited to Panama and Bosnia to look for victims of political repression, and to ground zero in New York after the Sept. 11 attacks.
They also were featured on TV's "Unsolved Mysteries" after helping convict Azizul Islam, 51, of murdering and dismembering his wife. Islam, a Plymouth, Mich., biochemist, filed an appeal last month, citing the Anderson charges.
Much of the evidence against Anderson stemmed from her participation in the more than 20-year-old case of a missing black woman, Cherita Thomas, believed to have been murdered in a racially motivated attack in northern Michigan.
In April 2002, Anderson reported finding bone fragments from areas of the Huron National Forest that had already been searched, and police became suspicious.
The next day, a lab technician reported seeing Anderson remove a bone from her boot and place it in the water. She was arrested.
It is unclear how many state and federal cases could be reviewed and possibly overturned because of Anderson's frauds. She has said that she conducted about 200 searches annually for police and historical preservation groups over 17 years.
Samuel Gross, a University of Michigan law professor, said defendants hoping for new trials will have to prove not only that Anderson falsified testimony in their cases, but also that her testimony played an important role in their convictions.
"That issue may make it relatively easy for judges to say that even if what she said was a lie, it didn't make a difference," Gross said.
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Attention Al Sharpton. Another Twana Brawley in the making.
Hey Destro, check this out!
Hey Destro, check this out!
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