A former Los Angeles County sheriff’s employee has been charged with taking and tampering with a blood sample from his own DUI arrest last year, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.
Tommy Ray Trimble, 60, is set to be arraigned Friday in a Downey courtroom on one felony count each of second-degree commercial burglary, preparing false evidence and destroying government records, along with one misdemeanor count of destroying evidence, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Trimble — who worked as an evidence and property custodian at the sheriff’s crime laboratory in Downey — was arrested July 7, 2024 on the 91 Freeway in Compton and subsequently charged with driving under the influence in connection with an investigation in which his blood was drawn, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
A sheriff’s criminalist at the Downey lab examined Trimble’s blood sample in September 2024 and noticed that it had been damaged, according to the District Attorney’s Office, which said Trimble is accused of accessing a vault where evidence was stored, removing his blood sample and heating it in a microwave.
In a statement announcing the charges, District Attorney Nathan Hochman said, “Those who perform civic service should expect to be held to a higher standard. This wasn’t a mistake. This was a concerted effort to flout the law to escape justice.”
Trimble could face up to three years in state prison if convicted as charged, according to the District Attorney’s Office.