BRAINTREE – An audit of the Braintree Police Department’s evidence room found thousands of items – including drugs, cash and guns – missing or unaccounted for, and sloppy record-keeping.

Town officials released the audit report at a press conference Wednesday.

Problems with evidence have already caused prosecutors to drop charges in a half-dozen Braintree cases and could result in hundreds of additional cases being dismissed.

The audit found that 4,709 pieces of narcotics evidence could not be accounted for, and that 38 pieces had been compromised – having been opened, left unpackaged or found to have items missing.

The audit report describes much of the missing drugs as “bags of cocaine.”

“The narcotics evidence is being stored haphazardly,” the audit found. “It should be stored chronologically by year and the Braintree Police property number.”

Also found to be missing were 2,490 pieces of property evidence, the report states.

The audit found that some of videos being stored as evidence were left unlabeled, and that test kits from sexual assault cases were stored in a trailer outside the police station.

It also found that about $408,000 in seized cash was missing. Some of the evidence bags containing money are described in the audit report as having been ripped open in the back or cut open at the bottom, with cash missing.

Much of the unaccounted-for money is from cases from 2001, 2002, 2012 and 2013. The audit lists $82,074.96 missing from 2001.

The audit report also lists 60 missing firearms. However, the police department’s response to the audit says two of guns were starter pistols and that all but 12 have now been located.

“There is either a serious record-keeping error regarding firearms or a need to immediately look into this matter,” the audit report states.

Two firearms were recovered in June from the home of Susan Zopatti, who was the police department’s evidence officer until May, when she died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

A .40-caliber Glock Model 23 pistol and a .25-caliber Beretta handgun were recovered from Zopatti’s home in June. One was listed as having been returned to its owner, and the other, owned by Michael Flemmi – a retired Boston police officer and brother of convicted murderer Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, an associate of former mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger – was still listed as being stored in the department’s gun locker.

The audit recommended thorough researching of missing or unaccounted-for narcotics evidence from 2013 until now. If evidence cannot be found, “its absence should be attributed to the previous evidence officer, Susan Zopatti,” the report states.

The audit, completed last month by retired Massachusetts State Police Maj. Bruce Gordon and Narcotics Audit Solutions of North Attleboro, recommends many specific changes in the police department’s evidence handling and procedures.

“I believe if the recommendations found in this report are carried out, they will result in a very improved evidence system,” Gordon wrote at the conclusion of the 54-page report.

At the town hall press conference, Mayor Joseph Sullivan said “the audit makes it clear there were significant administrative errors in the handling and storage of evidence by the department. New protocols and procedures on the handling and storage of evidence have already been established. I find the auditor’s report of unaccounted-for items and poor record-keeping practices by the police department to be deeply troubling.”

Sullivan has directed the police department, under the supervision of Town Solicitor Lisa Maki, to continue the investigation into the unaccounted-for items.

He has also asked the state attorney general’s office to conduct its own review of the evidence matter.

In a written response to the audit, Braintree Police Chief Russell Jenkins said some of the missing items, including $140,000 in cash and all but a dozen of the guns, have been located since the audit was completed.

Guns that are still missing may have been destroyed or returned to their owners, his response states.

Sullivan said all firearms seized since 2008 have been located.

Some of the missing items may have been destroyed in purges of the evidence room in 2009 and 2012, the chief’s written response states.

The chief’s response says the department has accepted and implemented most of the auditor’s recommendations, but several procedural changes are awaiting a review by the state attorney general’s office.

The police department disagrees with the auditor that an estimated half of the narcotics currently being stored in the evidence room could be destroyed.

“The department will await the conclusion of all investigations and review to schedule a narcotics destruction,” Jenkins’ response states.

It also says all sexual assault evidence kits have been moved to the evidence room inside the police station.

Among the recommendations the chief accepted were for quarterly inventories of the evidence room, twice-a-year unannounced inspections of the evidence room by the chief, and an annual independent audit.

The police department’s two new evidence officers, Ronald Solimini and Kenneth Bregoli, were appointed in June. They will go through a training program for evidence officers, and the entire department will undergo training in evidence-handling procedures.

It was Jenkins who requested the outside audit of the evidence room, the audit report says.

Jenkins and Maki attended the news conference but did not speak.

Sullivan said he was releasing the audit in conjunction with Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey’s office.

“While the investigation into unaccounted-for items is ongoing, the release of the audit at this time will allow all individuals whose cases may be affected by these findings the necessary information to ensure their right to a fair trial,” Sullivan said.

The audit specifically references 55 drug cases from which evidence had been compromised. The names of the defendants were included, but they were redacted in copies distributed to the news media.

READ THE AUDIT

POLICE DEPARTMENT RESPONSE