When drugs and evidence started vanishing from shipping boxes on their way from Rawlins to the Wyoming State Crime Lab in Cheyenne, Rawlins authorities called the Laramie Police Department to investigate.
Though Laramie police originally scrutinized the Rawlins Police Department and the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office, the case soon shifted to a UPS worker, in whose house they found electronics, drugs, toys and other items scattered, court documents say.
Deseree Ann Martinez, 32, faces one count of felony theft, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines, according to a charging document Carbon County Attorney Sarah Chavez Harkins filed Wednesday in Rawlins Circuit Court.
Harkins also charged Martinez with two counts of interfering with police, one count of misdemeanor-amount cocaine possession and one of misdemeanor-amount marijuana possession, each punishable by up to one year in jail and $1,000 in fines.
"UPS has no tolerance for theft," said UPS in a Thursday email statement to Cowboy State Daily. The company did not confirm whether Martinez is still employed with UPS.
Come Here, Laramie
Laramie Police Department Sgt. Craig Lenhardt was assigned to investigate, since the stolen drugs and evidence were boxed up at the Rawlins Police Department and the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office, respectively.
A box sent April 9 had marijuana in it when it left the Rawlins Police Department, but it arrived at the Wyoming State Crime Lab empty, says an evidentiary affidavit Lenhardt wrote.
One week later, the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office sent a box containing evidence to the crime lab, and it turned up mostly empty, says the document. A DUI blood kit and misdemeanor amount of cocaine were gone, but a material believed to be marijuana was still present, the affidavit says.
Another package was missing a misdemeanor amount of meth, but still contained Delta 9 plant material, Lenhardt wrote, adding that two fentanyl pills appeared to be missing from a third package.
Lenhardt reached out to Rawlins Police Chief Mike Ward on May 8, and Ward gave Lenhardt the names of everyone who handles evidence for the department, the affidavit says.
Lenhardt interviewed both of those people: a police lieutenant and an administrative assistant. Both clearly explained their process. The lieutenant showed Lenhardt emails the crime lab sent her about receiving empty boxes.
The administrative assistant described dropping the boxes off at a local lumber store that is also a UPS pickup site.
Next, Lenhardt asked Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken about his evidence procedures, and Bakken confirmed the name of his evidence technician, the document says. The evidence technician described how deputies heat-seal evidence baggies shut, then he puts them in a box, creates an address label and takes them to that same lumber store.
The affidavit says the Wyoming State Crime Lab’s evidence technician told the sheriff’s technician about the missing evidence and asked whether there was a clerical error on the contents lists. The sheriff’s tech said there wasn’t, and he confirmed what he’d sent.
The state’s tech noted that the mostly-empty box had an “excessive” amount of packing tape on it, and he notified his supervisor of the fact that it was missing items, says the document.
Lenhardt noted in his affidavit that though both agencies were missing evidence, they seemed to have different chains of custody for their evidence, so he turned his investigation to the first point where the packages were in the same place — the lumber store.
Into The Box
Lenhardt brought a box full of fake evidence and an Axon body camera to the Rawlins Police Department on May 15, and repeated the same process May 21. He asked them to ship both boxes through UPS just as they would any other evidence, which they did, wrote Lenhardt.
He watched the camera video from his phone and couldn’t see anyone tampering with the box, he wrote.
Lenhardt also loitered in the lumber store in plain clothes to see whether the boxes were still there and they were, he added.
On May 29, he asked the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office to send another fake evidence box, and he watched it from inside as well. Again, he didn’t see anyone tampering with the box from his camera video, the document says.
But when the Wyoming State Crime Lab received one of the boxes, the evidence technician said it appeared the sides of the box tape had been cut, so someone could either reach or look into the box. Nothing was missing, the tech added.
Fingerprints
Lenhardt collected the box the sheriff’s office had sent off back in April, before his investigation started, and submitted its layers of tape for forensic analysis, he wrote.
The lab report came in Aug. 7, revealing Martinez’s fingerprints on the top layer of tape; and also on the second layer of tape, beneath the top layer, the affidavit says.
Lenhardt asked RPD Lt. Daria Hooper if the name Martinez was familiar to her, and Hooper said agents had interviewed Martinez in connection with a stolen-item investigation involving a UPS package, Lenhardt wrote.
The officer confirmed that Martinez was still working at UPS at that time.
Lenhardt went to interview Martinez on Aug. 13. He learned around that time that Rawlins Lt. Jared Frakes had investigated a report of a phone and smart watch stolen from a UPS package. That box was still in evidence, noted Frakes.
Lenhardt collected that box and noted the phone and watch it carried together cost $1,299, he wrote.
The lab report from that box came back Oct. 3. On the sticky side of the tape, analysists found fingerprints matched to Martinez, the affidavit says.
Absolutely Not
The document says Lenhardt interviewed Martinez on Nov. 12, and the woman went into detail about how damaged boxes were given to another UPS employee named Tiffany, and how she handled nearly all the boxes, so her fingerprints would unsurprisingly be on them.
“I informed her that other officers were currently at her house conducting a search warrant and asked her if any stolen items would be found,” wrote Lenhardt. “She said nothing would be found.”
Soon after that interview, Rawlins police arrested Martinez.
Back At The House
The agents who searched Martinez’s house that day submitted detailed reports as well. They reported finding white residue in three pens, believed to be cocaine, and 351.6 grams of something in a multi-colored bong that appeared to be marijuana.
Laramie Police Department Officer Sarah Pachl documented finding:
• The multicolored bong in the downstairs bathroom.
• A box of four radios behind the TV in the master bedroom.
• A box of eyeglasses and glasses cases in the mud room.
• A box containing an Oculus.
• A box of 10 camouflage sunglasses on the basement couch.
• A box containing a brown straw hat in the basement closet.
• A white UPS box in the basement closet.
• A box of children’s toys in the laundry room.
• A box of prescription lenses in the basement closet.
• A Verizon receipt in the basement.
• A box of phones, watches and phone accessories behind the TV in the master bedroom.
• A box of clothing in the mud room.
• An amazon receipt in the mud room.
In his more-colorful report, LPD Officer Miles Cushman wrote, “the residence itself was littered with shipping boxes,” and that many still had shipping labels on them — which did not match the address nor the names of anyone who lived there.
He reported that he found:
• An Apple Mac Book Air.
• Beats studio pro earphones.
• Multiple phones.
• Apple ear buds.
• The pens that looked like they contained cocaine.
Making A List
LPD Officer Ethan Greenwalt was there too, and he made a list of all the goods in boxes with addresses mismatched to the home. That list included 73 packages, Greenwalt wrote.
He reached out to several people and confirmed that they were missing packages.
One person, an eye doctor in Ohio, told him she’d ordered a package, and he told her it would not be arriving on time because it was in Laramie PD’s evidence custody, says the affidavit.
Another woman confirmed she was missing a water flosser from Walmart; Greenwalt found a water flosser in Martinez’s bedroom, he wrote.
An electronics company confirmed it was missing a Ring camera, another man was missing a cellphone and another never got the hard hat he ordered, Greenwalt wrote.
The Encampment K-12 school was missing a $599 camera bundle that was supposed to be for the yearbook club, the officer added.
Hearing Next Month
Martinez is scheduled for a Dec. 3 preliminary hearing in Rawlins Circuit Court. She could not be reached for comment Thursday; the Carbon County Public Defender’s Office did not immediately respond to a Cowboy State Daily voicemail request for comment.
Martinez’s court file indicates she is out of jail on a $12,000 surety bond.
"The Rawlins police department really appreciates the hard work the Laramie Police Department put into solving this case," said Mira Miller, department spokeswoman.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
