HAMILTON, OH – The wife of a former New Miami Police auxiliary officer convicted of multiple felonies earlier in May in connection to a police evidence room scandal is coming to his defense, alleging the former police chief who pleaded out to lesser charges in the matter was the sole beneficiary to the illicit gains stemming from the missing and stolen evidence case.
On May 20th, former New Miami Police Chief Harold Webb pleaded guilty to one count of felony tampering with evidence and one misdemeanor count of attempted theft in connection to an evidence room scandal that seemingly stemmed from the chief’s then-ongoing vices.
Chief Webb was fired from his role at the police department back in June of 2024 following accusations of time theft and also refusing to administer a urinalysis with a witness present, with the mayor at the time, Jewel Hayes-Hensley, saying the police department smelled of weed so badly that it could “knock you off your feet.”
But what started as a termination over suspected drug use and faulty timecards morphed into a criminal investigation once the new police chief, Dan Bower, assumed his role in July of 2024 due to concerns about potentially missing or stolen evidence from the department’s evidence room. Amid the onset of this investigation, Auxiliary Officer Casey Gilpin, who worked part-time helping manage said evidence room, resigned in July of 2024.
During Chief Bower’s investigation, he found in excess of $3,000 missing from the evidence room that stemmed from a drug trafficking case, as well as approximately $500 of cash meant to be used in criminal investigations like drug purchases. But of particular note was the unusual manner in which various seized narcotics were allegedly destroyed under the supervision of former Chief Webb and Auxiliary Officer Gilpin.
When the allegations against Webb and Gilpin culminated into indictments, Webb eventually took a plea deal earlier in 2026 which compelled his testimony against his hired help in the evidence room, Gilpin.
Reportedly receiving a suspended sentence and ordered restitution to the tune of $3,090 to be paid back from the missing evidence money, Webb testified at Gilpin’s trial and claimed, “he and Gilpin conspired to lie to destroy police evidence from the property room, which included small amounts of drugs,” according to local reports.
Following a two-day trial with the jury having deliberated for roughly an hour, Gilpin was found guilty on all counts on May 12th which consisted of two felony counts of tampering with records, two felony counts of complicity to tampering with records, one felony count of tampering with evidence, and one felony count of complicity to tampering with evidence.
The former officer is now facing up to nine years in prison, with his sentencing hearing scheduled for June 18th. However, Gilpin’s wife finds the whole debacle confounding since she can’t logically connect what her husband’s motivations would be to wantonly mishandle evidence.
For the sake of context, as an auxiliary officer for the department, Gilpin wasn’t being paid and was acting as a volunteer roughly “one day a week,” according to his wife.
Gilpin was apparently trying to help then-Chief Webb dispose of “old evidence” in the evidence room and believed he was doing everything by the book.
“He followed all orders given to him, because he did not have experience in destroying evidence. He was continuously told by the chief that everything was ‘ok’ and being approved by the prosecutor’s office. Casey signed the final destruction order form that the chief said came from the prosecutor’s office. Only to find out later that he had made it himself. This document is the main reason he was convicted,” Gilpin’s wife said in a statement shared with Law Enforcement Today.
According to Gilpin’s wife, Chief Webb openly admitted to the court that he was the sole profiter from the evidence room scheme and had been “on cocaine the entire time and testified that he was trying to get rid of the evidence to hide the fact that he was stealing from it.”
“[Webb] was given a plea deal of one lesser felony and a lowered felony to misdemeanor theft of the money, with no jail time. All to testify against my husband. Casey had no gain in doing anything wrong and was only doing what he was told, and he is looking to get 9 years in prison. This is a complete injustice and we are trying to get the word out. Why let the big fish go and go after the little fish, makes no sense,” Gilpin’s wife openly speculated in her statement to Law Enforcement Today.
According to Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser, who handled both Webb and Gilpin’s cases, he claimed in a statement shared with a local Fox News affiliate that had Gilpin accepted a plea deal then he wouldn’t be facing nearly ten years behind bars.
“If you accept accountability, you will probably get favorable consideration if you step up and accept responsibility. There will be plea negotiations. It recognizes you are coming forward to admit guilt,” Gmoser stated.
Yet, if Gilpin was truly innocent of any wrongdoing and was being exploited by the former police chief due to his naivety in evidence room procedures, it would be hard to accept blame for a crime he didn’t truly commit.
While the evidence provided during the trial was apparently enough to convince a jury of Gilpin’s guilt, this author is equally as confused as the defendant’s wife on what his motivation would be to knowingly mishandle evidence that seemingly enabled his chief’s drug habits.
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