Aug. 26--The criminal case against the county commissioner candidate caught with drug paraphernalia shortly before the May 8 primary election has been dismissed after evidence at Reidsville Police Department went missing -- and an officer has resigned..
Clark Charles "Chuck" Faint, 48, of1112 Fillman Drivein Reidsville was found slumped over in his vehicle outside Foster Grill early on April 21 with what Reidsville Police said was a crack pipe in his car.
Police said in an interview on Wednesday afternoon that Officer Zack Hubbard had checked the crack pipe out of evidence for court on June 6 and the pipe was never returned. Chief Edd Hunt said his staff completed a thorough investigation and the crack pipe couldn't be located.
Hunt said Hubbard searched his vehicle and then he, with Capt. Wendall Neville, also searched his vehicle. Surveillance video was taken from a locker room where evidence is checked back in. Over a four-day period, the video never showed Hubbard in the locker room, according to Neville.
Policy at Reidsville Police Department indicates, "All evidence secured in storage will be returned by the officer or employee removing evidence. Policy also states, "If upon returning from court, an officer has evidence which has been checked out of the property room for court purposes and the property custodian is unavailable to return the evidence to the property room, the evidence shall be deposited into one of the temporary storage cabinets. The key to the cabinet shall be placed through the appropriate receptacle."
Hubbard admitted he didn't know what he did with the pipe, Hunt said.
Hunt said they checked to see if the pipe was still at the courthouse, where evidence is kept, and there is no indication it is. Hunt said every avenue they could possibly think of to find this pipe has been checked and it hasn't been located.
However, Hunt said, even if the crack pipe were to be found, because it left the officer's possession and other officers or other people may have had access to it, the case would most likely still have been dismissed.
Hunt said in a press release that District Attorney Phil Berger Jr. was made aware of the situation and the case against Faint was dismissed. He said this is the proper resolution to the case under the circumstances.
Hubbard also resigned. He was put on paid administrative leave and in this time frame he resigned. He was seen turning items in to the police department on Tuesday afternoon.
Faint has been to court twice, and both times, the case was continued. His next court date was scheduled for next Wednesday.
Faint lost his primary election, having the lowest number of votes on the Republican ballot. Faint received 2,109 or 11.93 percent of the votes.
Copyright 2012 - The Reidsville Review, N.C.
