The Advocate and Democrat

The search for a former part-time Sweetwater police officer accused of stealing more than $23,000 in evidence money continues three months after he was indicted. A Monroe County grand jury indicted Chris Greene, 45, in April.

Greene is charged with stealing $23,375 seized in an illegal poker game the accused officer helped investigate at a Sweetwater motel in August 2007.

However, Greene has not been arrested and is believed to be out of the country. Authorities believe Greene was in Kuwait earlier this year.

Sweetwater Police Chief Eddie Byrum said he contacted the investigating agency, TBI, this week for an update on the search for Greene.

TBI turned the actual search for Greene over to federal authorities under normal jurisdictional guidelines.

“The U.S. Marshals are still looking for him,” Byrum said. “We look forward to hearing from him and seeing what his side of the story is.”

The Sweetwater Police Chief said searching for a suspect outside of the United States is a lot more complicated than looking for someone within U.S. borders.

Byrum said TBI has told him Greene’s passport is flagged and the suspect would have to attempt to use fake documents to get back into the U.S.

In February, Greene was arrested for failure to pay child support to his ex-wife in Cleveland and was fired at that time from his police job in Sweetwater.

Greene had been on suspension from SPD since Oct. 26, 2007, for “departmental issues.”

Investigators in February acknowledged that Greene was a person of interest in the missing poker money case.

He is now being charged with theft over $10,000.

Though he has not been charged, investigators have also said Greene is a person of interest in the case involving guns that went missing from SPD in the spring of 2007.

Byrum said since the guns and money went missing, SPD has implemented a number of new security steps but conceded any department could be vulnerable if an officer turned to crime.

“What happened here with a bad officer could happen anywhere,” he said.

The City of Athens has been embroiled in controversy over missing evidence after a grand jury did not indict a police detective there.

The police chief said the amount of evidence police officers seize and handle has increased dramatically and it is a challenge to store it in the small building the department has been using as its headquarters for decades.

tommy.millsaps@advocateand demcrat.com | 337-7101

Subscribe to The Advocate and Democrat by clicking SUBSCRIBE. Sign up for Breaking News emails from The Advocate and Democrat by clicking EMAIL ALERTS and inputting your email address next to "Add Me" near the top right corner.