A former Toledo police officer is facing a federal charge after law enforcement officials say he stole a weapon and other items from an evidence room.
March 8 2019
A former Toledo police officer is facing a federal charge after law enforcement officials say he stole a weapon and other items from an evidence room.
While searching the home of Curtis Stone, 56, of Delta, Ohio, police found a Taurus .380-caliber pistol on Dec. 4, 2018, that was previously recorded as being destroyed by the Toledo Police Department, according to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court.
Mr. Stone retired from the TPD in January, 2018.
In September, 2018, TPD officers recovered a 9mm Canik 55 pistol during a traffic stop, according to the affidavit. The occupant of the vehicle had a criminal history of drug and gang offenses and was charged with having the gun.
During the investigation of the incident, a task force officer for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives discovered that the firearm had been recovered by TPD in 2015 and been marked as destroyed in February, 2016 by Mr. Stone, who worked in the TPD’s property room at the time.
“If the TPD property records were correct, and the Canik pistol were destroyed in February 2016, it would be impossible for the Canik pistol to be recovered over two years later during a September 2018 traffic stop,” the affidavit shows. “It thus appeared to investigators that the Canik pistol may have been stolen from the TPD property room and falsely marked as destroyed.”
Toledo police obtained and executed a search warrant for Mr. Stone’s residence in Delta on Dec. 4, according to the affidavit. They recovered the Taurus .380-caliber pistol, 10 miscellaneous magazines for firearms, miscellaneous ammunition, and two TPD evidence tags/labels.
The Taurus pistol also had been marked by Stone as destroyed on Dec. 21, 2017, in the TPD property room, the affidavit shows.
Lt. Kevan Toney, spokesman for the TPD, said every time officers take a gun off the streets, the ATF is notified. ATF agents then trace the gun’s history as part of a routine investigation.
It was during that trace that agents discovered the gun found in September, 2018 should have been destroyed, Lieutenant Toney said.
Mike Tobin, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said the investigation is ongoing, and investigators are working to determine how many guns Mr. Stone may have taken from the property room during his time there.
Mr. Stone’s arraignment in federal court is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Monday, Mr. Tobin said. Mr. Stone has not been taken into custody.
In February, Toledo police announced that policy and procedure surrounding the department’s property room would be updated as a result of an investigation into a retired officer who worked in the property room from January, 2013 to January, 2018. The investigation began in November, 2018 and focused on items that went missing during the retired officer’s watch.
The retired officer wasn’t named at the time of the announcement, but Lieutenant Toney confirmed it was Mr. Stone. TPD allocated $10,000 for additional security technology in the property room.
