15 drug cases dismissed weeks after cop commits suicide in jail

BY MICHELE NEWELL 

Fifteen major drug cases involving a former Reynoldsburg detective accused of trafficking drugs from the police department's evidence room have been dismissed.

The Franklin County Prosecutor's Offices dismissed the cases against Ty Downard weeks after he killed himself in jail.

"We had a feeling this was coming," said Reynoldsburg Police Chief Jim O'Neill.

O' Neill said it wass disappointing to see 15 major drug cases tossed out.

The offenders range from possession of marijuana to heroin trafficking.

All of the cases were tainted, according to Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien.

Downard and a Reynoldsburg lieutenant, who is now on administrative leave, worked all those cases.

"[There were] claims of money being taken from these seizure scenes as well as drugs being taken from the seizure scene," said Franklin County prosecutor Ron O' Brien.

O'Brien says his team spent hours reviewing 100 cases Downard and the lieutenant worked on, 85 of which are already closed.

Police Chief O'Neill says he doesn't want to see the same misconduct happen again.

He says he did an internal review of how his police department handles evidence.