Ex-medical examiner’s analyst charged with stealing drugs

A former coroner’s analyst in San Francisco has been charged with stealing methamphetamine collected at death scene investigations, authorities said Thursday.

Justin Volk, who surrendered Thursday, faces two misdemeanor charges of theft and receiving stolen property, the district attorney’s office announced. It wasn’t clear whether he had an attorney to speak on his behalf.

Volk was a forensic laboratory analyst in the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and his duties included processing and storing evidence from death scene investigations, according to a statement from the DA’s office.

Volk was arrested last year in Utah and a search of his car turned up methamphetamine in a labeled medical examiner evidence bag, which had been stored in an evidence room, prosecutors said.

Volk worked at the forensic laboratory for nearly 13 years but was fired after his arrest. He was involved in testing, collecting and preserving evidence in more than 2,500 investigations, including deaths, sexual assaults and cases involving driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, according to the San Francisco public defender’s office.

The district attorney’s office will review criminal cases in which Volk was involved “to ensure that no conviction or punishment has been improperly tainted,” the DA’s statement said.