By Darryl Q. Tucker
Saginaw News and The Associated Press
Copyright 2007 Saginaw News
All Rights Reserved
GLADWIN, Mich. — A fire investigator facing accusations of planting and tampering with evidence in arson cases may have become caught up in his own heroism, a prosecutor says.
Jeffrey Wallace, who worked with police dogs to detect flammable materials and explosives, faces charges in Gladwin County of tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice and filing a false police report.
“If Wallace in fact did the things he’s charged with, it could compromise all the investigations he worked on,” said State Police Detective Lt. Marvin Jenkins of the Third District office in Saginaw. “It could be pretty big. I’m hoping that’s not the case. It doesn’t look good.”
Authorities haven’t determined the number of cases Wallace worked on, Jenkins said. Some of the cases could have resulted in convictions that landed people behind bars or some may have involved insurance claims, he said.
Either Gladwin County District Judge Gary J. Allen or Magistrate Michael Greer will arraign Wallace at 9:30 a.m. Friday, court officials said.
State police said a monthlong investigation has resulted in charges in Macomb, St. Clair and Bay counties. “From his own statement, it sounds like he got caught up in a hero-worship adulation type of thing that led him down this path,” said Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith.
Authorities said they have videotaped evidence that shows Wallace -- Eastpointe’s former assistant fire chief and fire marshal -- planting evidence at the scene of fires in Gladwin County and in Macomb County’s Chesterfield Township. A conviction could lead to a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
Police arrested Wallace on May 25 after an undercover operation at a Gladwin County crime scene, officials said.
Wallace was the target of a monthlong undercover investigation initiated by Chesterfield Township and the state police, Smith said. Officials said Wallace, 53, lived in Chesterfield Township. Most recently, he worked as the city of Harper Woods ordnance code enforcement officer, officials said.
Wallace and his police dog Cops were well-known to law enforcement officials for their ability to detect accelerants at the scene of suspicious fires.
Officers arrested Wallace on Friday. Authorities released him on a personal bond.
“We don’t have any cases where it was his sole word that resulted in the conviction. He more often than not was working with the state police,” Smith said.
In a similar case, internationally acclaimed dog handler Sandra Anderson of Sanford, now 46, served a 21-month sentence at the federal prison where Martha Stewart was an inmate. In October 2004, U.S. District Judge Patrick Duggan sentenced Anderson to the Alderson, W.Va., prison for planting bogus evidence at crime scenes.
Anderson pleaded guilty in March 2004 to five felony charges, including obstruction of justice and making false statements to federal authorities.
Best known for her work with her cadaver-sniffing dog Eagle, Anderson claimed to have conducted about 200 searches annually for police and historical preservation groups over 17 years. But FBI agents arrested her in April 2002 as she helped search the Huron National Forest in northeastern Michigan for an Oscoda woman missing since 1980.
Authorities accused Anderson of planting bone fragments and carpet fibers in and around a tree stump and in the muck of a drained forest creek.
An August 2003 indictment said Anderson faked evidence in several cases in Michigan and Ohio. Prosecutors alleged Anderson planted bones in search areas and used her body fluids to stain a saw blade, coins and a piece of cloth.