Ex-StratCom official says DNA tying him to fake poker chips doesn’t prove his guilt

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald

By Steve Liewer

The former deputy commander of the U.S. Strategic Command says DNA evidence linking him to counterfeit poker chips doesn’t prove that he made them.

A report by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service shows Rear Adm. Timothy Giardina’s DNA underneath the adhesive paper on one of the three fake poker chips discovered at the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs early in the morning of June 16, 2013.

The three chips were altered with paint and stickers to make genuine $1 Horseshoe casino chips look like $500 chips. No DNA could be recovered from the two other chips.

“The follow up report from the Army crime lab ... made it very clear — DNA found in that sticker could have come from anyone who handled the chips,” Giardina said in an email to The World-Herald.

FULL story at link.



U.S. Navy

Adm. Timothy Giardina, the former No. 2 official at StratCom, says he was “a patsy” for someone who wanted fake chips found.


Read more: http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/ex-stratcom-official-says-dna-tying-him-to-fake-poker/article_a53bda21-772e-58ba-bdbd-31415bcbb0aa.html

[bluedigger]

1. I'm going to have to call his bluff.

[NotHardly]

2. Probative is not proof...

Presence of DNA can only indicate that some part of the person thus identified came into contact with an item, it however does not show, prove or indicate a iota beyond that possible contact. DNA is transferable... skin flakes, flake, float and migrate through contact with objects and the same for the rest of those parts of us that are out there (saliva, hair, sweat).

Considering the idea that the Navy found the "could have come from"... it is a casino environment, yes???

As such, casinos have high tech surveillance systems and recordings of every nano-second of what transpires at the tables, on the floor and every nook and cranny in the place. Seems to me that such surveillance of the officer should be examined and made available... still not proof however.

If the chips were used in the casino, anyone in there betting $500 a throw could have made contact with the chips... anyone at all and all but one of them (amongst the hundreds that would have done so) might be the suspect. Could have been any one, period.

[Cracklin Charlie]

3. I may be wrong, but...

I think it would be somewhat less likely that incidental contact could result in dna evidence being found under the adhesive paper used in the counterfeiting process.

[hughee99]

4. Since it is a valid $1 chip, if his DNA were on the $1 chip before the paper was added,

wouldn't that explain it?

[itsrobert]

5. that's very good explanation

and someone at a casino would have more of a chance touching $1 chips than a $500 chip.

[jakeXT]

6. The Navy is losing a lot of guys

Commanding officer, XO and senior enlisted firings

http://www.navytimes.com/article/99999999/CAREERS/302050309/Commanding-officer-XO-senior-enlisted-firings

[WhiteTara]

7. Riiight. Just because your DNA was on the sticky

side of the tape and on the chip, you are innocent. Right.

[brett_jv]

8. Not sure he's saying it 'proves he's innocent' ...

Just that it doesn't prove he's guilty.

He may be, but it's far from 'proof' ... he is.

As is mentioned above, all that would HAVE to have happened is that he touched it ... while it was still a $1 chip.

Reality is ... either he just handled it as a $1 chip ... or he altered it to $500 himself.

The one thing that makes it really sketchy though is the paint-job. Curious to know whether DNA could 'survive' being painted over?

Be interesting to know just how many different people's DNA were under the sticker? If it was ONLY his (most likely due to the paint job destroying any one elses that was on it ... or a thorough cleaning before the painting), then that's a pretty compelling argument for his guilt as the perpetrator of the scam.

[Monk06]

9. Big unanswered question; what's a guy who is in control of nuclear missiles doing gambling.

I would have thought that's an automatic disqualifier for a missile officer.