JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The polygraph test of a prisoner in Duval County jail who blew the whistle almost four years ago about a corrupt cop within the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office reappeared Wednesday -- the day after that officer was sentenced to 17½ years in federal prison.
Sources told Channel 4's lead investigator Jennifer Waugh that an inmate directly implicated former officer Aric Sinclair (pictured, right) -- a well-respected officer at the time -- in a robbery.
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Waugh reported that the inmate passed the polygraph test in March 1999 with flying colors, but it then disappeared from police headquarters.
The test was found Wednesday in a junk drawer in the very same room investigators said they searched in 1999.
Hussam Tahhan was held up outside the bank where Sinclair worked off-duty security. It appeared that no investigation of Sinclair was conducted after the inmate came forward with the information. Five months later, Sinclair was removed from the streets after Sheriff Nat Glover learned that the officer was one of three in the department being investigated by the U.S. Attorney's Office for robbery, drug dealing and murder.
Sinclair -- who pleaded guilty to charges of robbery and criminal conspiracy -- and a second former officer were sentenced Tuesday. Former officer Karl Waldon -- convicted on 14 federal counts, including the murder of northside businessman Sami Safar after leaving that same bank where Sinclair worked security -- will be sentenced next Monday.
"We had no idea where the polygraph was," Jacksonville Sheriff's Office director of operations Frank Mackesy said Thursday. "We looked for it a couple years ago, and then yesterday."
Mackesy would not discuss specifics of the disappearance or reappearance of the polygraph test, saying it is part of an ongoing investigation within the sheriff's office. The U.S. Attorney's Office is also investigating, looking for any evidence of obstruction of justice.
Jim Klindt, who was the federal prosecutor in the police corruption case, said the polygraph would have be a key piece of evidence in their investigation.
"I really don't believe in coincidences," Klindt said. "It seems to me that it's somewhat strange that it appeared within a day of the sentencings of this case."
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- January 21, 2003: Former Officers, Waldon Associates Sent To Jail