FC: Police steal DNA from man's soda straw, arrest him for rape

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

********

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis/web/vortex/display?slug=dna15&date=20010815&query=hanna

Rapist snared with a sleight of straw - and his DNA
August 15, 2001

By Christine Hanley
Los Angeles Times

SANTA ANA, Calif. - A suspect who was tricked by a police detective into
leaving his saliva on a straw at a Taco Bell pleaded guilty to two rape
charges Monday in a case that even his lawyer said represented a
legitimate yet unusual use of DNA evidence.

Brea, Calif., police Detective Susan Hanna had been working on the case
for months and thought Robert William Bradford Jr. was the culprit when
she invited him to a Taco Bell, saying she wanted to pick his brain about
the case.

After Bradford finished his soda, Hanna got him a refill, replacing his
straw and, on her way out, handing the old straw to a detective disguised
as an employee.

The straw was sent to a crime lab for DNA testing, which connected
Bradford to the rapes.

[...]




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