Former CMPD DNA analyst charged with obstruction of justice over allegedly switching a quality-control sample in a 2024 lab test
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Kelly Elizabeth Shea, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department DNA analyst since January 2016, was charged on 21 September 2026 with misdemeanor obstruction of justice by the State Bureau of Investigation, which acted at the request of Mecklenburg County District Attorney Spencer Merriweather. According to the arrest warrant, she made a misleading report to CMPD by unlawfully and intentionally switching a positive control sample during a quality-control step on 4 March 2024. CMPD said it placed her on unpaid administrative leave on 24 September 2024 pending an internal review; she resigned effective 31 January 2025. She is due in court on 9 November 2026. The charge is an allegation and the sources do not say how many criminal cases the lab work touched.
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