Valley crime lab employee charged

ANCHORAGE — A Valley resident and former analyst for the state crime lab has been charged with stealing morphine, oxycodone and other drugs both from evidence the lab was testing and from the drugs it keeps on hand for reference.

Stephen Palmer, 53, of Palmer, was charged with scheme to defraud, drug misconduct, official misconduct and evidence tampering, according to court papers filed March 6.

According to documents filed in the case, that drugs were missing from the reference samples — nearly pure drugs the lab keeps on hand to test against seized drugs — first came to light in the summer of 2013. Alaska State Troopers assigned Investigator Gordon Bittner to look into it.

“Investigator Bittner’s investigation started as a result of lab analyst John Giacalone discovering that an oxycodone reference standard contained the substance ‘inositol’ in addition to oxycodone,” the court documents state.

Inositol is used to dilute or “cut” drugs both on the streets and in laboratories.

The reference sample of oxycodone was only 49 percent pure, the morphine sample only 29 percent.

The inositol wasn’t the only thing used to take the place of the missing drugs.

“The contents of the morphine standard contained 12 copper-clad BBs, one white colored BB and three metallic laboratory stir bars. One BB was found in the amphetamine reference standard, six BBs were found in the opium reference standard and six BBs were found in the hydrocodone reference standard,” according to the documents.

Also, evidence went missing from AST cases, including methadone, oxycodone and other pills, some of which Palmer allegedly replaced with the allergy medication Zyrtec.

Bittner soon started to hone in on Palmer, who had access to all of the reference standards. Palmer had worked at the lab since May 1992, but resigned abruptly with no stated reason on Dec. 1, 2011.

“Shortly after Palmer’s resignation (on Jan. 2, 2012) Palmer’s wife … called 911,” according to the court documents.

The caller hung up, but dispatchers called back and she told them her husband was detoxing and she’d caught him with drugs. Troopers investigated, seizing a jar he’d been using to pull opium from poppy straw.

Bittner eventually talked to Palmer’s family. His wife and son told the trooper that Palmer had been addicted to drugs. The wife said she’d insisted he quit his job shortly before he did.

The son told troopers that “his father said that he was addicted to drugs since he had had a skiing accident over five years ago,” the court documents state. “His father also told him that he never had to pay for the drugs. Palmer also told his son that he never went more than eight to 12 hours without ‘hitting up’ during his drug addiction.”

When interviewed, Palmer told troopers he had no explanation for the missing drugs.

“He also denied being addicted to any controlled substances,” according to the documents.

As of Friday evening, he was listed as an inmate of the Anchorage Jail. Though defense attorneys have said the unreliability of the reference standards could cast doubt on multiple cases in the system, the state Department of Law disagrees.

“The Department of Law does not believe the discovered irregularities in the reference standards have negatively impacted the scientific validity of testing performed by other analysts of the lab,” according to a press release announcing Palmer’s charges. “Authorities are in the process of reviewing past analysis performed by Palmer to look for any potential conduct relating to that analysis or anything that raises concern about the integrity of any conviction in those cases.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.