PORT ORCHARD — A 29-year-old Kentucky man has been charged with a 2007 rape in Washington state, after police discovered that critical evidence had been stored for years in a police evidence room refrigerator.
The Kitsap Sun said forensic evidence in an alleged rape was collected and stored but never sent to a crime lab for processing.
Cmdr. Dale Schuster of the Port Orchard Police Department said evidence should have been sent to the Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory in 2007 or 2008.
He discovered the oversight last summer while going through an evidence list and assigned a new investigator to the case. He said the department is reviewing its handling of the case and looking into possible disciplinary action.
John Wayne Croft was extradited from Frankfort, Kentucky, and booked into Kitsap County Jail on Thursday on investigation of second-degree rape.
Croft told investigators seven years ago that the sex was consensual.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
