Asheville Police Chief William Anderson.-photo-Urban NewsAsheville Police Chief William Anderson held a press conference on February 4th, 2013 to give updates on the embattled crime evidence room that has been at the center of its’ own 2011 criminal investigation. Key items held as evidence came up missing, and a partial audit after the breach found guns, drugs, money, and other items were missing.  Criminal charges had to be dismissed against court case defendants because of missing evidence.

These breaches in the evidence room occurred before Chief Anderson became affiliated with the Asheville Police Department.

However, when asked about any evidence room updates, Chief Anderson refused to specifically comment on the on-going case. Although, Chief Anderson did say, “What I can say to you without jeopardizing any facts of the investigation is, we know what happened – how it happened, and who is responsible. We are just waiting for the district attorney’s office, and the SBI to deal with this issue,” Anderson concluded.

Anderson spoke on the pending new evidence room operations and restructuring, and a possible off-site evidence storage facility.  He also announced the hiring of Timothy Scapin, an experienced evidence room manager from Pinellas County, Florida who will assume the evidence room management position on March 4.