BY CINDY SCHROEDER and JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FORT WRIGHT - A twice-convicted rapist was the chief suspect in a violent sexual assault.
Evidence was submitted to the Kentucky State Police Crime Lab in Frankfort.
But although police say Franklin Ralph Roark Jr. had the motive and the opportunity in the Sept. 17 attack in Fort Wright, it wasn't until Oct. 30 that he was behind bars. And that was only because other authorities had linked the 44-year-old Butler handyman to at least two other home-invasion rapes elsewhere.
The delay in getting direct evidence in the case prompted Fort Wright's mayor to fire off a letter to Gov. Paul Patton asking that the governor consider directing more resources to the state crime lab. Mayor Paul Hiltz wrote, he said, after learning that the backlog of cases awaiting analysis at the lab "was so great that it could take months to receive definitive results."
He wrote of his belief that if investigators had been able to process DNA evidence quickly after the first assault in Fort Wright, the second and the third assaults may have been prevented.
Although the recent move of Northern Kentucky's regional lab in Campbell County may have contributed to the delay, Fort Wright's mayor said the main reason for the wait was inadequate equipment and staffing at the central lab in Frankfort. He said he thinks the slowness is hindering police investigations and "putting citizens at increased risk."
The Kentucky State Police strongly disagreed with Mr. Hiltz's conclusions and says people just don't understand how long some of the more complicated tests, such as those involving DNA, can take.
DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, a large molecule that holds a person's master blueprint, is contained in every cell in the body. Each person has a unique DNA pattern, as with fingerprints.
DNA taken from the blood of the suspect is compared to DNA found in bodily fluids on the victim.
"If everything - and I mean absolutely everything - runs well and we have all the samples of blood or hair or whatever that we need, it can take a minimum of three to nine months before we get DNA results," said Lt. Kevin Payne, KSP spokesman. "It takes that long."
The time tests take is something police officers all over the state say they've becomed accustomed to. But Fort Wright doesn't handle such cases as often as other departments do, some said, and was therefore maybe more surprised by the time than others.
"Unless it's a simple marijuana case or something like that, it takes quite some time," said Newport Sgt. Coy Cox. "It is a problem for us. But this is not unusual."
The state lab system handles more than 30,000 cases every year. It can be called upon by every law-enforcement department in the commonwealth.
"We're very busy," Lt. Payne said.
In the case of Mr. Roark, suspected of being a serial rapist, Boone County Police said they were able to arrest him within a week of an Oct. 25 Burlington assault, thanks largely to an eyewitness, and a comparison of recent Northern Kentucky sexual assaults. Last week, a Pendleton County grand jury indicted Mr. Roark on charges of rape, burglary, robbery, and being a persistent felony offender in connection with an Oct. 15 attack in Butler. Authorities also have said the man now being held on a $1.25 million bond may be linked to other sexual assaults.
Mr. Roark was imprisoned in 1975 after being convicted of rape, and again in 1987 after being convicted in another case of rape, sodomy, burglary, robbery, escape, theft, stealing a motor vehicle and being a persistent felony offender.
Rather than wait for the state to improve resources at the state crime lab, some departments are starting to process evidence themselves that they once would have sent to the state.
To hasten processing evidence in drug cases, Chief Browning said that his department recently had a detective trained in the processing of marijuana evidence.
Not all authorities are concerned about delays.
Independence Police Chief Ed Porter praised Kentucky State Police Lt. Terry Evans for his speed in handling evidence at the satellite lab in Northern Kentucky.
"They've been operating out of a facility that might be considered substandard, but he's done a lot of good things there, ever since he took over," Chief Porter said. "They have a lot of work to do, and not a lot of people to do it, but I have never approached Lt. Evans on a personal basis and asked for help when I did not get it."
Lt. Payne also said the labs respond quickly in urgent cases. Fort Thomas Detective Foy Razor agreed.
"They've always helped me quickly when I had a significant case," he said.
Kentucky State Police Detective Travis Brown blamed the recent move of the Northern Kentucky satellite lab - not inadequate state resources - for recent delays in getting evidence from local police agencies processed.
Detective Brown said he delivered his evidence from the Butler rape case to the state crime lab in Frankfort because the Northern Kentucky lab was in the process of moving.
"The only reason (the processing of Fort Wright's) evidence was delayed was because of the move," Detective Brown said. "You're talking about massive amounts of equipment going from one place to another, and the bugs being worked out of a new building."
Acting Fort Wright Police Chief Dan Kreinest acknowledged that "the unfortunate timing" of the lab's move affected the rape inquiry.
"The state police have been very, very cooperative, and very supportive," Chief Kreinest said. "But sometimes (the processing of evidence) takes a little longer than we would prefer."
That's just the way DNA testing is, Lt. Payne said.
"It's the latest, greatest policeman's tool," he said. "But superfast it ain't."
