The Drug Enforcement Agency launched an investigation Thursday into a scandal surrounding the Beckley Police Department.
It all started when Beckley Police Chief Tim Deems called U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin Wednesday.
Chief Deems was alerted to the problem on Friday. He then announced the sudden medical leave of an employee connected to the evidence locker.
Deems said the intention all along was to bring someone in from the outside.
"We'll be taking more of a supportive role at this point," Deems said. "Anything that the DEA needs, we'll be there to help."
Until that audit is complete, no person is under investigation.
"We're not making any judgments at this point," Goodwin said. "We're conducting an investigation and wherever that leads us, we're gonna go."
Goodwin said there's no question the Beckley Police Department is keeping the community safe.
He referred to the latest incident as a "speed bump" in the road to ending the war on prescription drug abuse.
"This is not going to deter the Beckley Police Department, my office, the DEA, from moving forward and addressing this prescription drug crisis," Goodwin said.
The internal audit will take several weeks to be completed.
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