A state grand jury has begun hearing evidence in a long-stalled criminal case involving ounces of cocaine as well as quantities of hashish that were discovered missing from the Hilo police evidence storage area in 2017.

A Hilo police detective who was identified as a “person of interest” in that case was placed on administrative leave without pay and later retired, and police announced on March 2, 2018, they had referred the case to the Hawaii County prosecutor’s office.

County Prosecutor Mitch Roth then referred the case to the state Attorney General’s office, which in turn submitted it to the Honolulu prosecutor’s office for review. West Hawaii Today reported last October that Honolulu prosecutors declined to file charges in the case.

Since then, the case has been returned to the Hawaii County prosecutor’s office, and Kona-based Deputy Prosecutor Sheri Lawson has been assigned to it, according to Deputy Prosecutor Rick Damerville.

Hawaii County Police Chief Paul Ferreira confirmed Monday that a number of officers who were involved in the investigation of the missing evidence were summoned to appear before the grand jury in Kona.

The cocaine was placed in the evidence storage area in 2014, and police realized some of it was missing in 2017. Police had intended to use a small quantity of the drug for training purposes, and were weighing the cocaine when the discrepancy was discovered, according to a police news release in 2018.

Hawaii County police opened criminal and administrative investigations into the issue, and police said that “the investigation quickly identified a sworn employee as being a person of interest for the missing portions of the drug.”

That prompted audits of other evidence that revealed weight discrepancies in marijuana concentrate, or hashish, from two separate investigations, police said. That missing evidence came from cases that had been suspended because there were no known suspects, police said.

Hawaii County police reported last year they had tightened up their procedures for handling and storing evidence to prevent similar incidents, and “the department has also conducted additional audits to ensure these incidents have not also been perpetrated by anyone else.”