Two Oregon Cops Removed for Criminal Conduct

by Mark Wilson

An Oregon State Police (OSP) evidence technician was arrested after an undisclosed amount of money was stolen from the evidence room at the Newport Command Center.

On March 31, 2008, Paula Diane Bell, 32, was hired as one of OSP’s sixteen evidence technicians. She was responsible for handling, storing and disposing of evidence and other property at OSP evidence rooms in Newport, McMinnville and Tillamook, Oregon, according to Lt. Gregg Hastings, an OSP spokesman.

OSP initiated an investigation on June 5, 2013, after an OSP employee discovered that the evidence room at the Newport Command Center had been disturbed and evidence packages had been opened.

Bell was arrested on June 6, 2013 and booked into the Lincoln County Jail on charges of first degree theft and official misconduct.

The Oregon Department of Justice will prosecute the case. OSP is conducting an audit of all of the evidence rooms Bell had access to and will notify other law enforcement agencies of any impact her actions may have had on pending cases, said Hastings.

In an unrelated case, on May 7, 2013, a six-year veteran OSP Trooper pleaded guilty to official misconduct and resigned for fondling a woman during a traffic stop.

On March 1, 2013, OSP Trooper Jose Antonio Cortez, 37, stopped a woman on suspicion of driving under the influence of intoxicants. The woman later reported that Cortez fondled her during questioning.

Cortez was placed on modified duty during the investigation. Before it was completed, however, Cortez’s attorneys reached a plea agreement with prosecutors under which Cortez would plead guilty to official misconduct, surrender his law enforcement certification and serve one year of probation. In exchange, Cortez would not be charged with a sex crime.

Clackamas County Circuit Court Judge Robert Herndon accepted Cortez’s guilty plea and sentenced him on May 7, 2013.

Source:The Oregonian