New London — Last year's audit of city police evidence rooms, which turned up "inconsistencies" that affected a court case as recently as last week, began after police responded to a 911 call at the home of the then-property officer, according to documents obtained by The Day.

Police placed Russell MacDonald, the property officer, on administrative leave and ordered an audit of the department's property room after state police responded to his Griswold residence on March 28, 2015, because someone had reported him as being suicidal.

Aware of the numerous weapons inside the former Marine’s residence, police met and came up with a plan before going to the home, according to a state police investigation report.

Upon their arrival, however, MacDonald exited his house without incident.

Police described MacDonald as having soft, slow speech and “pin point” eyes when they arrived. MacDonald, the report states, was cooperative and denied having taken any medications or drugs.

After crews took MacDonald to The William W. Backus Hospital, police began interviewing friends and family.

According to the report, family members said MacDonald had “not been himself for the past two years,” and a live-in girlfriend said she’d found him “not fully responsive” on their couch the day before.

Two family members additionally said MacDonald had told them he didn’t know how to tell his parents that he was going to “lose everything.”

On the morning of March 28, 2015, MacDonald’s girlfriend said she’d gotten in a fight with him after she dumped his pain medications and left the house, the report states.

According to the girlfriend, MacDonald said, “I have more pills in the house which I can take to finish off what I did not do yesterday,” when she spoke with him later that day.

MacDonald, who became the evidence officer in August 2014, resigned from the department in August last year after an internal question-and-answer session.

Elliot B. Spector, a law enforcement expert with the Hassett & George law firm who identified himself as MacDonald's lawyer, said Friday he preferred not to comment on any personal or medical matters related to his client.

Spector also declined to comment about the ongoing investigation into what went on in New London's evidence rooms under MacDonald's watch.

Although the audit of the department's property rooms, where seized items are stored, initially turned up nothing out of the ordinary, it later revealed “several inconsistencies,” according to Deputy Chief Peter Reichard.

Reichard wouldn't elaborate on those inconsistencies Thursday, but he did list some measures police have taken since last March to further secure the evidence rooms.

The department, he explained, has multiple evidence rooms throughout the building, including a primary physical evidence room and others reserved for narcotics, homicide and sexual assault cases.

Right around when police ordered the audit last year, they re-keyed the whole building, Reichard said, adding locks to the evidence rooms that not even a master key will open.

Police added two more cameras so all of the rooms would be under surveillance 24/7, Reichard said. Previously only the narcotics room had a camera.

Reichard said a team of one captain and four officers, currently finishing up an inventory of all of the rooms' items, also ensured anything that was slated for destruction was properly disposed of.

"There's more accountability now," he said.

In the months since the March 2015 incident, State's Attorney Michael L. Regan has sent letters to multiple defense attorneys notifying them that the evidence in dozens of their clients' cases may have been compromised.

Many of those cases involved clients who were charged with offenses related to heroin/opioids, crack cocaine and marijuana. Some of them had pending charges, while others already had entered into plea deals or diversionary programs.

On Aug. 11, Regan announced he would not prosecute 28-year-old Ishma R. Harris because the drugs New London police seized from her in 2014 are no longer available.

Police said Harris, who allegedly was trying to sell heroin so she could help a man incarcerated on a murder charge pay his bond or legal fees, admitted she had 40 bags of heroin in her possession at the time.

The exact number of cases affected by the evidence rooms' "inconsistencies" is not yet known.

Reichard said it's frustrating for police to see so many cases affected, but he understands why the court won't use potentially compromised evidence.

"Some of the cases the detectives had done with narcotics were phenomenal," Reichard said. "Some were linked to other major cases. (Convictions) could have been small building blocks toward something larger."

He noted that it took two years for the state to bring charges against former Ansonia police Officer Matthew P. Macero.

Macero in May was convicted of fourth-degree larceny, second-degree false statement and second-degree false reporting of an incident for his role in taking narcotics from the department in 2013.

The case regarding New London's evidence rooms, now being handled by the Office of the Chief State's Attorney, remains under investigation.

l.boyle@theday.com