The Broward medical examiner’s chief toxicologist will not face evidence tampering charges
The Broward County Medical Examiner’s chief toxicologist didn’t steal drugs from the medical examiner’s office, didn’t tamper with evidence and didn’t go breaking bad by cooking methamphetamine with his wife in a Pompano Beach Residence Inn.
Dr. Gary Kunsman maybe had a little cannabis.
All of the above is according to a closeout memo issued Wednesday from the Broward State Attorney’s Office. Kunsman, in the aforementioned position with the Broward ME’s office since 2013, has been on administrative leave since an investigation began in July concerning theft of controlled substances and evidence tampering.
Getting away — not getting away with it
From the closeout memo:
“The tip” referred to an anonymous July 19 email to Fort Lauderdale police from the address urstobewith@gmail.com. The emailer said the smells and sounds seeping from room No. 131 at the Residence Inn at 2880 Center Port Cir., as well as the equipment in the room, indicated the man and woman in the room were cooking up meth.
As this Residence Inn sits in Pompano Beach, police in Fort Lauderdale lateraled the information to BSO, which put room No. 131 under surveillance on July 20. BSO detectives learned the room was rented by Kunsman’s wife, Cynthia Kunsman, but saw no activity before the Kunsmans checked out of the hotel at 11 a.m. on July 21.
One detective checked the hotel room and found nothing “of any evidentiary value.” Meanwhile, other detectives used Cynthia Kunsman driving without a seat belt as a reason to stop the Kunsman’s car.
When asked about the hotel stay, “Kunsman stated that when his wife tells him to take off certain days, he does so and his wife wanted to get away from their residence because ‘If I’m at home, I will be more stressed...and just work.’ Additionally, Kunsman stated that, ‘We go and that way I get to sleep and she makes food and I eat.’”
Two lab tubes found in the car tested as having the “presumptive presence” of MDMA also called molly or ecstasy or X. Kunsman said he didn’t take MDMA, likely tested some at the lab on a weekend, absentmindedly put the tube in his pocket and he didn’t know how long the tube had been in the glove compartment.
Kunsman admitted of his actions and the explanation, “it’s stupid. I certainly understand it doesn’t sound good and I don’t think it is a very good reason.”
Back at the office
Even amidst Kunsman’s messy office, detectives say they saw tubes on his desk that looked the same as those seen in the car. That got them a search warrant for the office on suspicion of evidence tampering and grand theft of a controlled substance.
“The search revealed used tubes, miscellaneous chemicals, empty liquor bottles, various paperwork, old food containers as well as personal items strewn around the office,” the memo says.
Most interesting to the detectives were a United Parcel Service box with three glass tubes of about 11 grams of suspected cannabis and a brown satchel with pills, another tube with possible cannabis and less than 1 gram of marijuana in a burnt joint.
When a detective tried to track the UPS box to determine if Kunsman had used county money for cannabis, UPS and lab equipment seller Fisher Scientific each said the box couldn’t be tracked because it was outside the tracking period. Invoices determined that the box came from a Jan. 5, 2018, order of standard lab items.
“It was logically deduced that the box had been resealed with cannabis inside after the ordered lab equipment was removed,” the memo said.
As for the pills in the satchel, all checked out as medication prescribed to Kunsman. Nothing in the office pointed to criminal impropriety with evidence.
“The investigation conducted by the BSO Public Corruption Unit did not uncover any evidence that he stole anything from the lab, let alone drugs, or that he tampered with any evidence from any case,” read a paragraph on page No. 8 of the nine-page memo. “Rather, it appears that the tip had no merit and the drugs found in the car, as well as the pills found in his office were lawfully prescribed.”
The only thing Kunsman possibly could be prosecuted on, the memo says, is misdemeanor cannabis possession and up to 48 employees had access to that office.
Besides, even if DNA testing determined the smoked joint was Kunsman’s, Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor decided earlier this year the office wouldn’t spend time filing cases with no other charges besides misdemeanor cannabis possession.
This story was originally published September 1, 2021 at 9:55 PM.
