San Jose Officers Arrested in Alleged Drug Evidence Cover-Up

Two San Jose police officers, Raydarius Surry, 29, and Destiney Thompson, 30, were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of tampering with evidence and filing false police reports. The arrests stem from an alleged scheme to cover up the disappearance of a bag of suspected narcotics Surry had documented in an arrest report.

According to investigators, the bag of drugs went missing before it could be submitted as evidence. When questioned about the discrepancy, Surry allegedly replaced the missing evidence with a similar bag of suspected narcotics obtained during an unrelated pedestrian stop. He then reportedly submitted this replacement bag as evidence from the original arrest, attempting to pass it off as the original stash.

Thompson, Surry's colleague and romantic partner, is accused of assisting in the cover-up by accessing body-camera footage from the original arrest. The pair now each face one count of tampering with evidence and one count of filing a false police report.

San Jose Police Chief Paul Joseph stated that the department acted swiftly to remove the officers from duty and pursue criminal accountability. "Falsifying evidence or police reports is a crime, and our Department moved swiftly to remove both officers from duty and pursue criminal accountability," Joseph said. "These allegations, if proven to be true, constitute a failure to live up to the standards our community has a right to expect."

The investigation began in August, and both officers have been on paid administrative leave since September. Surry has been with the San Jose Police Department for eight years, and Thompson for six. Both officers reside in Gilroy.