A lab-tech wreck for the NYPD: 'Faked' tests send DAs scrambling

New York Post ^ | 05/11/10 | MURRAY WEISS and DAN MANGAN

[AtlasStalled]

technician in the NYPD's forensics lab has been suspended for allegedly falsifying drug-test results, throwing into question "maybe thousands" of criminal cases -- and prompting a panicked meeting yesterday between cops and the city district attorneys.

A Bronx drug trial was even abruptly halted last week because the longtime lab technician, Mariem Megalla, was supposed to testify in that case, sources told The Post.

The NYPD last week sent out an emergency e-mail to the city's five DAs warning them about the evidence disaster and telling them to examine pending felony case files for evidence tested by her. In all such cases, the NYPD wrote, the evidence will need to be retested to make sure the results are accurate.

"It could potentially be hundreds and maybe thousands of cases that need to be looked at because of how long she's been in the department," a source said, citing pending and closed cases.

Megalla, 57, is accused in one case of falsely labeling a sample of suspected drugs as positive for cocaine after it actually tested negative -- because she allegedly didn't want to walk to another part of the building and fill out paperwork to have it tested further, the sources said.

[XHogPilot]

Similar events in San Francisco CA. The SF city lab responsible for illegal drug testing has been discredited. Hundreds of felony cases are affected.

[elk]

And people are called wing-nuts for questioning the bureaucracy...

[a fool in paradise]

Megalla, 57, is accused in one case of falsely labeling a sample of suspected drugs as positive for cocaine after it actually tested negative -- because she allegedly didn't want to walk to another part of the building and fill out paperwork to have it tested further, the sources said.

"It's not my job..."

[MamaTexan]

And people are called wing-nuts for questioning the bureaucracy...

Druggies, pushers. There's a whole host of names that get thrown at people.

All because they refuse to espouse their allegiance to the War on Drugs.

[camle]

who watches the watchers?

[KarlInOhio]

What happens when the entire medical system is government run or controlled. It's 5pm and time to go home. I'll just check off "not cancer" on this biopsy and hit the road.

[pieceofthepuzzle]

“What happens when the entire medical system is government run or controlled. It's 5pm and time to go home.”

I've seen this mentality over and over again at a VA hospital I periodically rotated through during training. Government institutionalizes laziness.

[Western Phil]

What happens when the entire medical system is government run or controlled.

Its not my job.

[Western Phil]

What happens when the entire medical system is government run or controlled.

Its not my job.