Former State Police Crime Lab Administrator Tells Troubling Story

BOSTON -- A former administrator at the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab who was fired for negligence is blowing the whistle on his former bosses, and what he told Team 5 Investigates raises some troubling questions about whether the state agency he worked for is putting politics before public safety.

NewsCenter 5's Sean Kelly reported Thursday that Bob Pino believes he's the fall guy for a crime lab riddled with problems.

Pino's CSI work has helped send many of the Commonwealth's most notorious killers to prison, including Eddie O'Brien, Rod Matthews, Henry Meinholz and Thomas Maimoni. But after 23 years, Col. Mark Delaney, the head of the Massachusetts State Police, showed Pino the door this past April.

"I've never been negligent in all my career at the crime lab. This is all a sham, they're using me to cover up something else," said Pino.

Team 5 Investigates examined the circumstances behind Pino's firing and found some very serious problems that plague the State Police run crime lab. Everything from budget shortfalls, inadequate staffing, and vague policies have all led to a backlog of cases that have jeopardized public safety. And Pino says these problems made him the fall guy.

"I get the blame for setting up the system, I also get the blame for discovering that this is a fault in the system and I got the blame for every part of the whole system," said Pino.

At issue is Pino's management of the crime lab's CODIS unit, a vital crime solving tool, used to compare DNA profiles and help police and prosecutors solve crimes. According to the state's investigation, Pino's "haphazard style" in managing this database is the reason why time ran out and prosecutors couldn't go after criminals in fourteen sexual assault cases. It's an accusation that Pino denies, "The statute of limitations is not a laboratory function. No criminal has been put free because of what I've done here," said Pino.

According to Pino, no one ever told him that keeping track of the statute of limitations on cases was part of the CODIS job. Ironically, Pino says he's the one who first discovered the problem and went to his bosses, including Mark Delaney, Crime Lab Director Carl Selavka and Technical Director Joanne Sgueglia, with a plan to fix it. "They should be accused of the same thing, since they knew about it," said Pino.

"These are just fundamental issues that somehow, even though it's challenging, the individual CODIS administrators and managers have got to make sure are addressed," said Timothy Palmbach.

Palmbach is the former director of the Connecticut crime lab, and the current director of the forensic science program at the acclaimed Henry Lee Institute at the University of New Haven. According to him, the entire criminal justice system should be held responsible for making sure there are not lapses in the statute of limitations. "I don't think it's fair to point to any one entity and say it's your responsibility," said Palmbach.

Another problem Team 5 Investigates found at the Massachusetts state police crime lab is an increased workload, and inadequate staff to get it all done. Pino's workload tripled in 2004 when the size of the CODIS database expanded to include DNA samples from all felons, but his staff size did not.

"Over the past five years, I've had 52 different temps," said Pino. It was a problem that Pino says his bosses were well aware of. "They were aware of it and they were saying in the next budget they were going to put in permanent staff but every time it'd just be another one where I'd never get any permanent staff," said Pino.

In addition, the state also claims Pino deliberately misused the DNA database to search for criminals through their family members who are already in the system. But according to an e-mail obtained by Team 5 Investigates, it appears that the state had actually given Pino permission to do that type of searching. "I went to the Chief Legal Counsel, Eleanor Sinnott, and she said by the law, we are allowed to do familial searches in Massachusetts," said Pino.

So why is Pino taking the brunt of the blame for problems everyone else seemed to know about?

"I think all of it's politics," said Pino.

And that's just one of many reasons why criminal defense attorney Joan Griffin says scientists, not cops, should be in charge of crime labs. "In my mind, there's no question that if this could be separated from the police, we would be better off. You have people running laboratories who are traffic cops with no scientific training at all," said Griffin.

While Pino was the only person fired, the problems also led to the resignation of crime lab director Carl Selavka who also is a scientist. Pino is trying to get his job back through arbitration, but so far the state has denied his claims. No one at State Police Headquarters or the Executive Office of Public Safety would agree to be interviewed.

Resources

Real Crime Labs vs. CSI

How Major Crimes Were Solved