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Nika Elise Larsen, 36, who worked as an Oregon state police crime lab forensic scientist, stole or tampered with more than 700 pills that were submitted to the lab as evidence by police agencies between January 2013 and August 2015. (Beth Nakamura| The Oregonian)

A federal judge on Monday sentenced fired Oregon State Police crime lab scientist Nika Elise Larsen to three years in prison for stealing more than 700 pills seized in drug cases over more than two years.

Larsen's crimes prompted prosecutors across the state to re-evaluate more than 2,500 cases. District attorneys have dismissed or dropped more than 150 convictions or charges because of Larsen.

Larsen violated her position of trust "on a massive scale unprecedented in Oregon history,'' Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel wrote to the court.

The forensic scientist pleaded guilty to two counts of obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud and deception. She'll also face 250 hours of community service as part of her supervised release after her prison time. She was ordered to turn herself into federal prison on Feb. 4.

Larsen, standing between her two defense lawyers, told the judge she wanted to express her deep "regret and shame.''

"What started as a perceived easy and painless means of escaping my past and agonizing daily life turned into egregious acts that deeply impacted my friends, family and colleagues in the law enforcement and the legal community,'' she wrote in a letter to the judge that she read in court.

"I allowed my addiction to cloud my judgment which obscured the gravity of my actions. ... I let so many people down,'' she said. "I had no idea at the time how insidious my actions were and how deeply they would affect those involved.''

According to court documents, Larsen, 36, suffered from excessive alcohol and drug use abuse during the year preceding her arrest, her way of dealing with past abuses compounded by poor relationships. She said she loved her job and that her actions contradicted her values. The lab doesn't deserve the kind of scrutiny that she invited, she said.

U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown began the hearing, questioning if the negotiated three-year sentence was sufficient for Larsen's offenses.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Pam Holsinger pointed out that the district attorneys across the state supported the sentence, partly because of Larsen's acceptance of responsibility and cooperation.

The crimes came to light after another state police forensic scientist discovered 18 oxycodone pills missing from the Bend laboratory in April 2015.

That sparked an internal investigation that uncovered tampering with other evidence, including pills, capsules and tablets of controlled substances handled by Larsen.

A subsequent review of all evidence handled by Larsen between January 2013 and August 2015 found that over 700 pills had been stolen from 50 different evidence samples, including morphine, hydrocodone, diazepam, methamphetamine, oxycodone and methadone.

In some instances, Larsen stole all the pills. In other cases, she took only some of the pills. In a few cases, she replaced the pills with other substances to hide the theft, Holsinger wrote in a sentencing memo.

When Larsen was the primary scientist examining evidence in a case, she'd conduct the chemical testing as required and account for the drugs tested in a report. But before packaging the drugs to return to the police agency that submitted them, she would steal them, the prosecutor wrote.

"Because law enforcement agencies rarely go back and recheck the evidence (unless going to trial), this went undetected for a significant period of time,'' Holsinger said.

In Deschutes County, the top prosecutor said he's reviewed 261 of 1,039 cases. Of the 261, he's recommended that 17 convictions be set aside.

Since November 2014, the Umatilla County District Attorney's Office has dismissed about 70 drug cases due to the criminal investigation. In about 40 additional cases, the office dismissed a drug charge and proceeded on other remaining charges. The office also agreed to dismiss the convictions of eight defendants who had pleaded guilty to drug charges and is expected to do the same for another 16 defendants.

"Ms. Larsen has cast a shadow on the integrity of the work done in the Oregon State Crime Lab in Ontario, Pendleton and Bend,'' Daina Vitolins, president of the Oregon District Attorneys Association, wrote to the court. "She held a position of public trust and her breach of that trust has damaged the reputation of the Oregon State Crime Lab.''

Larsen's lawyer, Steven Myers, said Larsen met with her defense lawyers and state and federal prosecutors after her offenses were discovered but before she faced charges. She provided to prosecutors "comprehensive and painful candid disclosures'' about her deeds, he said.

She also submitted to two polygraph tests, passing both, and spent hours in Pendleton and Bend labs to walk investigators through "how this came to be,'' Myers said. Larsen was highly -regarded at the state police lab, taking "more than twice as many cases'' as any other scientist, Myers said.

The judge was convinced the three-year sentence was sufficient, noting that such time in a federal prison for someone of Larsen's background with no criminal record is significant. She urged her to get the treatment she needs while in custody and someday share a story of "how the fall from grace can lead to recovery.''

At Larsen's request, the judge recommended she serve her time in either Dunbar, California, or Phoenix.

"The conduct is hard to describe in terms of its devastating impact on the legitimacy of the criminal justice system,'' Brown said. "You're never going to work in a criminal justice system again.''

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian