​Past Unethical Cases
Michael Hoover
​Michael was a 51 year old forensic chemist of Washington State Patrol. In 2001 it was discovered that he was stealing and tampering with sent to the patrol's Marysville crime lab for testing. Hoover an 11-year veteran had never been charged with any crimes until then. Hoover was suspected of stealing heroin from sent to the crime lab as well as taking evidence from locked case files of his coworkers. Hoover first used heroin as test to treat his back pain. Heroin is an extremely addictive drug which explains why such a loyal and trusting forensic chemist would commit a crime like this. Without this drug it would be hard for him to survive which lead to excessive stealing. Court documents show that on December 15 patrol detectives installed a surveillance camera above Hoover's work space that captured him stealing drugs more than 15 times in only a single week. This case shows that not all people of law can be trusted which creates greater problems in our current society. (C.24)
Bag of heroin (I.23)
Sandra Anderson
Sandra Anderson and her dog Eagle (I.24)
Another case of unethical behavior that effects the society was of Sandra Anderson. She was a trustworthy director of the Great Lakes search and rescue in Michigan. Sandra is well known for her canine named Eagle. In April 2002 "After an investigator thought he saw Anderson remove something from her boot where she signaled the find of a small bone, a close eye was kept on her. The next day, when she alleged that Eagle had discovered a piece of carpet in an area previously scoured by investigators, Anderson was arrested on suspicion of planting evidence at the crime scene." The item was discovered to have been stained with her own blood. "According to a Department of Justice press release, on August 20, 2003, Sandra Anderson was charged with five counts of falsifying and concealing material facts, three counts of obstruction of justice, and two counts of lying to law enforcement officials." Eagle had sadly died of a heart disease in November 2014. "On March 10, 2004, the Department of Justice announced that Sandra Anderson had pleaded guilty to the charges." It is hard to swallow that a woman that was once trusted created crime. This makes all forensics look bad even though they are not and they were only created to help protect societies. (C.25)