Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — A former San Francisco crime lab technician at the center of a scandal that resulted in hundreds of drug cases being dropped has been sentenced to home confinement on a cocaine charge.
Deborah Madden was accused of skimming cocaine she was supposed to be testing while working at the lab in 2009.
The San Mateo resident agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor cocaine possession after two juries deadlocked in the federal felony case.
KPIX-TV reported that the 63-year-old Madden apologized at her sentencing Friday, saying she ended her career in a shameful way. She received one year of home confinement and five years of probation.
The judge also ordered her to pay a fine and perform community service, but rejected prosecutors’ request for a one-year prison sentence.
Copyright 2013 Associated Press