When drugs and evidence began disappearing from shipping boxes en route from Rawlins to the Wyoming State Crime Lab in Cheyenne, Rawlins authorities called the Laramie Police Department to investigate.

Although Laramie police initially looked into the Rawlins Police Department and the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office, the case soon shifted to a UPS worker, whose home they found scattered with electronics, drugs, toys and other items, court documents say.

Deseree Ann Martinez, 32, faces a charge of theft, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines, according to a charging document that Carbon County District Attorney Sarah Chavez Harkins at filed Wednesday in Rawlins Circuit Court.

Harkins also charged Martinez with two counts of interfering with police, one count of misdemeanor possession of cocaine, and one count of misdemeanor possession of marijuana., each is punishable by up to one year in prison and $1,000 in fines.

“UPS has zero tolerance for theft,” UPS said in an emailed statement Thursday to the Cowboy State Daily. The company has not confirmed whether Martinez is still employed by UPS, referring that question to the local police department. A spokesperson for the Rawlins Police Department did not immediately return a voicemail request for comment.

Come here, Laramie

Laramie Police Department Sgt. Craig Lenhardt was assigned to investigate, as the stolen drugs and evidence were deposited with 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 arrived empty at the Wyoming State Crime Lab, an affidavit written by Lenhardt said.

A week later, the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office sent a box of evidence to the crime lab, and it turned up mostly empty, the document says. A DUI blood kit and a quantity of misdemeanor cocaine were gone, but a material believed to be marijuana was still present, the affidavit said.

Another package was missing a contraband 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 contacted Rawlins Police Chief Mike Ward on May 8, and Ward gave Lenhardt the names of everyone who handles evidence for the department, the affidavit said.

Lenhardt interviewed both people: a police lieutenant and an administrative assistant. Both explained their process clearly. The lieutenant showed Lenhardt the emails sent by the crime lab about receiving the empty boxes.

The administrative assistant described dropping off the boxes at a local lumber store that is also a UPS pickup site.

Lenhardt then asked Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken about his evidence procedures, and Bakken confirmed the name of his evidence technician, the document states. The evidence technician described how the deputies heat-seal the evidence bags, then put them in a box, create an address label and take them to the same lumber store.

The affidavit says the Wyoming State Crime Lab evidence technician told the sheriff’s technician about the missing evidence and asked if there was a material error on the contents lists. The sheriff’s tech said there wasn’t, and he confirmed what he sent.

The state tech noted that the mostly empty box had an “excessive” amount of packing tape and notified her supervisor that she was missing items, the document said.

Lenhardt noted in his affidavit that while both agencies lacked evidence, they appeared to have different chains of custody for their evidence.it is so he directed his inquiry to the first point where the packages were in the same place — lumber shop.

In Box

Lenhardt brought a box full of fake evidence and an Axon camera THE Rawlins Police Department on May 15th and repeated the same process on May 21st. He asked them to send both boxes via UPS as they would any other piece of evidence, which they did, Lenhardt wrote.

He watched the camera video on his phone and could not see anyone tampering with the box, he wrote.

Lenhardt also stood in the lumber store in plainclothes to see if the boxes were still there, and they were, he added.

On May 29, he asked the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office to send out another fake evidence box and tracked it down from the inside as well. Again, he didn’t see anyone tamper with the box in his dashcam video, the document states.

But when the Wyoming State Crime Lab received one of the boxes, the evidence technician said it appeared the sides of the box’s tape had been cut so someone could either touch or look inside the box. Nothing was missing, the technician added.

Fingerprints

Lenhardt collected the box the sheriff’s office sent in April before its investigation began and sent his tape layers for forensic analysis, he wrote.

The lab report came in on August 7, revealing Martinez’s fingerprints on the top layer of tape; and also on the second layer of tape, below the top layer, write the affidavit.

Lenhardt asked RPD Lt. Daria Hooper if Martinez’s name 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 the time.

Lenhardt went to interview Martinez on August 13. He found out during that period that lt. Rawlins Jared Frakes investigated a report of a phone and smartwatch stolen from a UPS package. That box was still in evidence, Frakes noted.

Lenhardt collected that box and noted that the phone and watch that carried it together cost $1,299, he wrote.

The lab report in that box came back on October 3rd. On the sticky side of the tape, analysts found fingerprints matching Martinez, the affidavit said.

Absolutely not

The document says Lenhardt interviewed Martinez on Nov. 12, and the woman went into detail about how the damaged boxes were given to another UPS employee named Tiffany and how she tampered with almost all of the boxes so that her fingerprints would be, unsurprisingly, on them.

“I informed her that other officers were currently at her home to execute a search warrant and asked her if any stolen items would be found,” Lenhardt wrote. “She said nothing would be found.”

Shortly after that interview, Rawlins police arrested Martinez.

Back Home

Agents who searched Martinez’s home that day also submitted detailed reports. They reported finding white residue in three pens, believed to be cocaine, and 351.6 grams of something in a multicolored bong that it appeared to be marijuana.

Laramie Police Department Officer Sarah Pachl documented the discovery:

• The multicolored bong in the downstairs bathroom.

• A box with four radios behind the TV in the master bedroom.

• An eyeglass case and eyeglass cases in the mudroom.

• A box containing an Oculus.

• A box of 10 camouflage sunglasses on the couch in the basement.

• 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 clothes in the mudroom.

• An Amazon receipt in the mudroom.

In its more colorful report, LPD Officer Miles Cushman wrote, “The residence itself was full of shipping boxes” and that many still had shipping labels on them. — which did not match the address nor the name of anyone who lived there.

He reported that he found:

• An Apple Mac Book Air.

• Beats Studio Pro Headphones.

• Multiple phones.

• Apple ear buds.

• The pens that appeared to contain cocaine.

Making a list

LPD Officer Ethan Greenwalt was also there and made a list of all the belongings in the boxes with addresses that did not match the residence. The list included 73 packages, Greenwalt wrote.

He contacted several people and confirmed that their packages were missing.

One person, an eye doctor from Ohio, told him he had ordered a package, and he told him it wouldn’t arrive on time because he was in Laramie police custody, the affidavit said.

Another woman confirmed she was missing dental floss from Walmart; Greenwalt found a water flosser in Martinez’s bedroom, he wrote.

An electronics company has confirmed that a Ring camera is missing, another man was missing a cell phone and another never received the helmet he ordered, Greenwalt wrote.

The Encampment K-12 school was missing a $599 room package that was supposed to be for the yearbook club, the officer added.

Next month’s hearing

Martinez is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Dec. 3 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 record indicates she is out of jail on a $12,000 bond.

Clair McFarland can be contacted at [email protected].