SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A former San Francisco Police technician accused of skimming cocaine from the crime lab has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft.
Deborah Madden pleaded guilty Friday after two previous mistrials in federal court when jurors could not reach a verdict.
Hundreds of drugs cases were dropped after the 62-year-old Madden was charged with felony charges for allegedly skimming small portions of cocaine from evidence lockers. She resigned from the department in 2009 after a 29-year career in the lab.
After the second mistrial in January, federal prosecutors offered to drop the felony charge in exchange for a guilty plea to misdemeanor theft, the same offer Madden's defense attorney had made initially.
The charge is punishable by up to a year in jail.
Madden is scheduled to be sentenced in July.
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