Need $31k? Try the dump
By George P. Hassett

   Jack Leutcher has opposed Acting Chief of Police Robert R. Bradley before. But this time he can‚Äôt, all the president of the patrolmen‚Äôs union can do is laugh and shake his head.
    Leutcher lobbied against the home rule petition that would take the chief‚Äôs job out of civil service and, essentially, make Bradley the city‚Äôs permanent top cop. Leutcher also disagreed with Bradley when the acting chief spoke on behalf of an ordinance to increase the fees private companies must pay to have police details.
    But when it comes to the $31,535 in seized cash that was mistakenly thrown out last week, Leutcher said he doesn‚Äôt blame his frequent foe.

     ‚ÄúWhat the hell,‚Äù said Leutcher. ‚ÄúI feel bad for the guy. It‚Äôs a tough spot, he was trying to do the right thing and the thing he was actually trying to prevent ‚Äì losing evidence ‚Äìhappened. Nobody‚Äôs to blame but the system‚Äù
    An evidence clerk began locking seized cash in a broken desk in January, even though it is not attached to the other officers’ furniture, said Bradley.
    Two officers assigned to the cleanup found the drawer unit leaning on its side May 8 and assumed it belonged in a dumpster with other office furniture being discarded. The evidence clerk who was using the drawer unit was not working that day, said Bradley.
When the clerk came in the next day, the two officers who had cleaned out the room excitedly showed her what they had done. That’s when police realized a mistake had been made.
     ‚ÄúA very bad mistake,‚Äù said Bradley in a statement.
That day police officials tracked the dumpster to a Waste Management Industries transfer station on McGrath Highway. They were told the trash and the drawer unit had been loaded on a 40-foot garbage trailer and hauled to a landfill in Rochester, N.H.
    ‚ÄúWe dispatched two officers to New Hampshire on Wednesday morning to inspect the site, and they discovered that the contents of our dumpster had already been buried under hundred of tons of industrially compacted trash.  There‚Äôs no way to recover it, even with heavy equipment.  We know what it is and where it is, but we can‚Äôt get to it ‚Äì and neither can anybody else,‚Äù said Captain Charles Femino.
  ‚ÄúThey thought they‚Äôd be able to pick through the trash and, get their hands dirty, but still find it,‚Äù said Leutcher. ‚ÄúBut those landfills are pushed down with such heavy machinery trying to go through it would be like trying to dig into McGrath Highway with a shovel.‚Äù
   Bradley said it would cost more to dig into the landfill with heavy machinery than the $31,535 in cash they would find. No other seized drugs or evidence was lost and Bradley said he was confident no pending cases would be compromised. There was no foul play involved either, he said.
  ‚ÄúThe people involved have access to that room everyday and nobody was alone,‚Äù he said. ‚ÄúIt‚Äôs an unfortunate case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.‚Äù
   Today, somewhere in Rochester, N.H., under tons and tons of trash, lies a small fortune. But the lost $35,535 is not going to be found anytime soon, said Leutcher.
   ‚ÄúSomeday, some archaeologist studying our civilization may come upon all that cash, but until then I think we‚Äôre out of luck,‚Äù he said.