Drug charges dropped against Barrow teachers
ANCHORAGE - Prosecutors dismissed drug charges against two former Barrow school teachers after a judge ruled that a warrant used to search their home was tainted.
Superior Court Judge Michael Jeffery said investigators made "reckless misstatements of fact or omissions" when applying for a warrant to search the Barrow home of Terry and Jani Eckard.
The search March 30 by North Slope police found 7.8 grams of methamphetamine, scales, packaging material and $4,800 in drug money, according to arrest records.
In a 66-page ruling Dec. 7, Judge Jeffery threw out that evidence and wrote that police should not have been allowed in the couple's apartment.
Police did not intentionally try to mislead the court when applying for a search warrant, the judge said, but got important facts wrong and omitted others.
"When the reckless misstatements are removed from the record and reckless omissions added back in, as required by law, the remaining information does not give probable cause for issuing the Eckard search warrant," Jeffery wrote.
The Eckards' attorney, Tom Temple of Fairbanks, said police "ran to the court with a bunch of town gossip" and then tried to build their case on items they found during the illegal search.
People in Barrow should take comfort in the judge's ruling and its message that illegal searches and seizures will not be tolerated, Temple said.
Terry Eckard was a high school teacher. Jani Eckard, taught at the elementary school. Both have resigned but have not lost their teaching certifications, Temple said.
North Slope Borough Police Department Detective Donn White, the town's one-man drug investigation unit and the person who obtained the search warrant for the Eckards' home, said he community members were upset about the dismissal of the charges. Methamphetamine is a serious problem in Barrow, he said.