An East Bay deputy was accused of pocketing drugs from suspects. But the case never went to prosecutors

Former Alameda County Sheriff's deputy Donald Couch was fired after investigators determined he took prescription pills for himself rather than entering them into evidence. Former Alameda County Sheriff's deputy Donald Couch was fired after investigators determined he took prescription pills for himself rather than entering them into evidence. Photo: Alameda County Sheriff’s Office Photo: Alameda County Sheriff’s Office Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close An East Bay deputy was accused of pocketing drugs from suspects. But the case never went to prosecutors 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

An Alameda County sheriff’s deputy was fired in 2015 after being accused of pocketing prescription pills he confiscated from suspects at crime scenes, but he was never charged criminally even though his fellow officers suspected he had a drug problem, newly released documents show.

Internal affairs investigators concluded that former Deputy Donald Couch broke the law. But the Sheriff’s Office did not submit the case to the Alameda County district attorney’s office for review, both agencies said this week.

Records on the case were released to The Chronicle under California Senate Bill 1421, the police transparency law that took effect Jan. 1 and gave the public access to many police personnel files that had been shielded for years.

While hundreds of disciplinary cases have been unsealed, describing findings of dishonesty or on-duty sexual assault, the Alameda County case appears to be unusual in that allegations of potential criminal activity were not forwarded to prosecutors.

Sgt. Ray Kelly, a sheriff’s office spokesman, said the potential criminal case was hindered by a lack of clear evidence proving Couch had taken and kept drugs for himself. Missing pills were never found.

“There was not enough evidence to show a criminal charge,” he said. “There was no physical evidence.”

He stressed that the larger case had stemmed from concerned deputies coming forward.

“Our people saw what they believed was illegal and unethical behavior,” he said, “and they went to internal affairs officers.”

An Alameda County district attorney’s office spokeswoman, Teresa Drenick, said there is no record of prosecutors receiving the case. In general, she said, it is a crime for a police officer to steal evidence, including drugs.

Couch, whose firing has never been reported publicly, could not be reached for comment. His attorney did not respond to messages.

When internal affairs investigators asked Couch if he ingested pills he took from suspects, the deputy said no and asserted that he “wind-tested,” or destroyed, some oxycodone pills found at a crime scene, records show. His attorney called it a routine practice by fellow officers in his agency — a claim Sgt. Kelly said was false.

“These people are filthy — I don’t want to touch them, let alone take their stuff,” Couch told detectives.

Investigators didn’t believe Couch and, according to the records, sustained two findings that he failed to book prescription pills into evidence and another allegation that he took a pill to get high at a fellow deputy’s house party. He was also cleared of stealing pills from a woman’s purse due to a lack of evidence.

“Deputy Couch’s actions in this matter are unacceptable, considering the position of trust he was placed in as a peace officer,” the internal affairs team concluded. “His actions are not compatible with the expectations of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.”

Sheriff Gregory Ahern fired Couch on Jan. 23, 2015. His attorney filed notice that he intended to appeal, but Kelly said he never went through with it.

Couch’s troubles began after he attended a party thrown by a colleague in early 2014, became drunk and asked the host for a painkiller to help his back, even though he wasn’t injured, according to the report.

On June 20, 2014, records show, Couch assisted a fellow deputy who had detained three burglary suspects found inside a storage shed at a Dublin apartment complex. Couch discovered a heroin kit in the shed with methamphetamine, syringes and about four pills that appeared to be Oxycontin, the opioid painkiller.

The other deputy said he heard Couch say something like, “Oh yeah, badness here, badness here and these are for me,” as he grabbed the pills and dropped them into his front pants pocket. Couch, in his internal affairs interview, claimed that the pills were for high blood pressure and that he left them in the shed.

Investigators found Couch’s defense “not credible,” saying the deputy who witnessed him pocketing the pills was his friend and partner and had no motivation to lie.

The next day, Couch responded to a drug-related case at a hotel in Dublin. Five suspects were detained in a room, where police confiscated a meth pipe, three laptops and a knife. Deputies saw Couch recover a bottle containing about 30 Oxycontin pills from one of the suspect’s bags, according to the internal reports.

“He kinda, like, started takin’ over, talking and searching,” one deputy said of Couch.

Investigators wrote in their report that Couch told a fellow deputy that the pills “were just going to disappear and no one would be criminally charged for possessing them.”

Couch told officials he threw the bottle of pills out his car window into ivy bushes, but police reportedly searched the area and found no trace of the drugs.

Couch’s attorney, Steven Welty, told investigators that “wind-testing” pills is “common in law enforcement.” When an Alameda County commander asked Couch if the practice of destroying such evidence was common in Dublin, the former deputy said it “was not common but it does happen,” according to the report. Couch said an officer would typically stomp on the pills on scene or safely discard them to avoid writing reports.

The sheriff’s internal affairs board did not believe Couch and said that, even if he did toss the pills, it was “appalling that a deputy would make a decision to destroy felony evidence in the field and not follow proper evidence processing protocols.”

Investigators probed one other incident on Jan. 19, 2014, in which Couch assisted in searching a car that had been in an accident. An unnamed deputy searched the female driver’s purse and found a bottle of prescription pills. Couch did a secondary search of the purse, the reports state.

The next day, the woman called police and said her bottle of clonazepam, an anti-anxiety medication that can be used to get high, was missing from her purse. There was not enough evidence to determine whether Couch took the medication, according to records, and investigators did not sustain that allegation.

In a June 26, 2014 internal memo, a supervisor wrote that a deputy thought Couch was “abusing prescription drugs and alcohol.” The memo said Couch may have been getting pills from his girlfriend, who was being treated for cancer, possibly without her knowledge.

Matthias Gafni is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: matthias.gafni@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mgafni