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SPRINGFIELD - There is an investigation into missing cash from the Springfield Police Department's evidence room.

(The Republican file)

SPRINGFIELD - A prominent defense lawyer confirmed he was unable to recover from city police a collective $21,300 on behalf of two clients whose criminal cases were decided in their favor.

Attorney Vincent A. Bongiorni said he filed motions to compel return of property on behalf of two clients - one of whom was down about $20,000 - and a second seeking a return of $1,323 seized by police after he was acquitted of drug charges.

Bongiorni on Friday filed a motion to force the return of the lesser amount of cash on behalf of a client found not guilty on Feb. 5 in Hampden Superior Court of possession with intent to distribute drugs.

"The Defendant has made repeated requests upon the Springfield Police Department for the return of his currency and has been told they have been unable to locate it; the Defendant has now been deprived of his property for almost two years," Bongiorni's motion reads.

The filing comes a week after Police Commissioner John Barbieri conceded in a response to a public records request from The Republican/MassLive.com that the city had conducted an audit of the police evidence room and discovered cash was missing.

A lawyer for the city refused to say how much officials believed has gone missing or what they believed may have happened to the cash. Barbieri said the department requested assistance from the Massachusetts Attorney General's office and the city intends to hire an "outside expert" to look into the matter.

Of the first client who struggled to recover $20,000 seized during a criminal investigation, Bongiorni said he filed a similar motion and the Law Department opted to cut him a check.

"They did the intelligent thing and paid the money," Bongiorni said, adding that he expects the same will happen for his second client.

The city offered no explanation as to where the money might be, he said. When asked if he had been unable to recover money seized as evidence on behalf of his clients in recent memory, Bongiorni, who has practiced criminal defense law for decades, responded:

"This has never happened to me."

A lawyer for the city did not respond to a request for comment on Friday afternoon.

Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni said Barbieri informed him that he began an audit of the evidence room after Barbieri was appointed last summer. The audit was ongoing when the issues related to Bongiorni's clients cropped up in recent weeks, Gulluni confirmed. The assistant district attorney prosecuting the second case was unable to produce the $1,300 to the jury as evidence, but Gulluni said he believed that did not contribute to the outcome of the case.

"It wasn't material," Gulluni said.

He added that he believes the missing evidence money issue - whatever is at the root of it - will not have a significant impact on cases in his office.

"We're awaiting the results of the audit. I'm not going to speculate or comment on the potential of what could happen. It's been isolated to these two cases, as far as we know," Gulluni said.

Barbieri's initial public statement on the matter noted that while cash had apparently gone missing from the evidence room, no drugs, weapons, physical evidence or other valuables were unaccounted for.

The city has not responded to certain questions posed by The Republican including who had access to the evidence room and when was the last time an audit was conducted.