Two guns missing from the Braintree Police Department’s evidence room were in the home of the person in charge of the room, a new report said.
WCVB reports that of the eight firearms unaccounted for, two of them were located at the home of Officer Susan Zopatti, who was in charge of the room until her death in May. One of the guns belongs to Michael Flemmi, a former Boston police officer who served time in prison for hiding guns for his brother, mobster Stephen Flemmi, and mob boss Whitey Bulger.
Heat-sealed evidence bags were broken into, some narcotics evidence was replaced with other drugs. and rape kits were being stored in an outside trailer, according to the news station.
In August, it was reported that an outside investigator was being brought in to audit the police department’s evidence room. The audit is focused on cases from the past three years and has reportedly found that in addition to the weapons, over $70,000 in cash and 1,000 pieces of drug evidence are missing.
The police officer in charge of the evidence room committed suicide during the audit back in May.
All in the Family
Braintree Police Chief Russell W. Jenkins hired former State Police major Bruce Gordon, to perform an audit of the department.
Gordon subsequently visited with Zopatti on May 13, and within a week of the meeting she committed suicide.
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/09/investigation_into_braintree_p.html
Suicide. Convenient.
One might wonder why Gordon would visit Zopatti.