A former city of Hartford employee charged with stealing marijuana and pills from the police department's property room she oversees was arraigned in Hartford Superior Court on Wednesday.
Liza Aponte, 40, of Hartford, had turned herself in to police Sept. 23 and was charged with two counts of second-degree larceny and two counts of unlawful removal of records.
Police said Aponte, a civilian clerk hired in January, stole three bags of property from the Hartford Police Department's property room, which stores evidence including drugs, money, jewelry and weapons.
Aponte and another civilian coworker were conducting a routine audit of the property room on Aug. 18 when her colleague discovered an evidence bag was missing, police said in the arrest warrant. The bag contained 13 bags of marijuana and 11 orange pills, according to police. Employees assigned to the property room could not find the missing evidence bag upon searching the area, police said.
After the audit, Aponte approached the police officer supervising the property room to tell him she accidentally took the drugs with her while bringing other evidentiary items to the State Laboratory in Meriden, police said. She told him that she panicked when she realized her mistake and disposed of them, but she said she didn't recall when that happened, police said.
Aponte had access to the evidence including drugs seized, police said.
Authorities began investigating Aponte, who was assigned to the property room, after the supervisor contacted the city's Internal Affairs Division about the missing evidence.
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During an interview in Internal Affairs on Aug. 21, Aponte again said that she accidentally took the drugs while bringing evidence to the state lab to be analyzed after she said a police officer asked her to bring items there for processing, however she didn't log out the evidence and threw out the drugs in a Dunkin' Donuts bag, police said. When investigators drove her to the area she said she disposed of it, she couldn't provide further information.
A full audit conducted by Internal Affairs officials revealed two more bags were gone. Police said all three contained small amounts of marijuana. One also contained an unknown type of pills.
Hartford police said all three bags had been submitted as "found property" and were not connected to any criminal investigations or proceedings.
Video surveillance showed Aponte take the first evidence bag in question from the drug vault July 6, appearing to look around to see if anyone was watching, police said. It didn't take her long to retrieve it, so police said it seemed clear she knew where it was. She put the evidence bag into the box she was preparing for her trip to the lab, appearing to place the bag at the back of the box, police said. Video showed her entering and exiting the drug vault three other times on July 27, carrying at least one evidence bag with her, police said.
When police requested a list of evidence Aponte brought them, they learned she had only take three items to the lab on July 6 and she didn't bring any drug evidence to the lab on July 27, police said.
She denied to police in another interview that she intentionally took evidence and denied knowledge of the July 27 drug vault visit even when shown surveillance images, police said.
Investigators said found evidence doesn't normally go to the lab and that police don't normally call to request items be taken to the lab like Aponte described, police said.
Aponte called investigators several times on Aug. 31 and she "came clean" about what really happened, police said. She told police she uses marijuana and that she did take the drugs from the property room, police said.
In a follow-up interview, she said she lied because she was scared and embarrassed, police said. She told police she had smoked pot on and off for several years, but that she quit before getting her job as administrative clerk for the city of Hartford. Smoking again in June and smelling marijuana in the property room brought back cravings, she told police. She knew found property drugs are destroyed after six months, so she took the marijuana for personal use, police said.
Aponte destroyed the police reports and evidence bags to conceal what she had done and flushed the pills in one of the evidence bags down the toilet, police said. Remaining evidence taken has been destroyed, she told police.
Aponte was transferred during the investigation and was fired Sept. 3 "after the appropriate administrative process," according to police. Authorities said surveillance footage and logging records linked Aponte to the crime.
Police obtained an arrest warrant for Aponte on Sept. 21. She turned herself in two days later, and a judge set her bond at $10,000. It's not clear if she has an attorney.
Hartford police said "further safeguards have been put in place to prevent civilians from misappropriating evidence."
She appeared in court to be arraigned on Sept. 30.
