Lake County Crime Laboratory

10/28/2020

Congratulations on your well deserved retirement, Karen!

10/23/2019

Don't forget about National Prescription Drug Take Back Day this Saturday! For the first time, DEA will now accept va**ng devices and cartridges at any of its drop off locations during National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. It is important to note that DEA cannot accept devices containing lithium ion batteries. If batteries cannot be removed prior to drop-off, DEA encourages individuals to consult with stores that recycle lithium ion batteries.

See full press release from the DEA below.

DENVER – With robust public participation over the course of 17 prior events, the National Prescription Drug Take Back Day Initiative continues to remove ever-higher amounts of opioids and other medicines from the nation’s homes, where they are vulnerable to misuse, theft or abuse by family memb...

05/30/2019

Great job to all involved!

Mentor police have arrested a Mentor-on-the-Lake man they say robbed a Huntington Bank in the city.

05/28/2019

Congratulations to the Painesville Police Department's newest promotions: Lt. Larry Armstrong and Sgt. Russ Tuttle!

05/08/2019

Mentor PD Honors 2018 Officer and Civilian of the Year, Detective Steve Ondercin. Congratulations to you!

04/29/2019

Congratulations! We look forward to working with Mentor Police Department’s new Chief.

Mentor Police Capt. Kenneth K. Gunsch is getting a promotion.

01/29/2019

Due to inclement weather, the Lake County Crime Laboratory will be closed Wednesday and Thursday. We will reopen on Friday, February 1st at 8:00 a.m.

01/07/2019

If anyone has any information about this suspect, please contact the Lake County Sheriff’s Office (440) 350-5620.

01/07/2019

Our condolences to Willoughby Hills Police Department on the loss of K-9 Razor.

12/21/2018

The Lake County Crime Laboratory Building will be closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We will re-open on Wednesday, December 26, 2018 at 8:00 a.m. We will be unable to receive or return evidence, during this time period. The Laboratory will continue to be available for 24 hour Crime Scene Processing. Contact our Crime Scene Staff through Central Dispatch at 440-350-2795.

12/21/2018

This young lady helped rescue several people from yesterday’s fire in Mentor, she really is a hero. We are glad to hear that no one was injured at all!

Good morning friends,

Thursday’s early morning fire had us pretty busy. It left us all pretty tired. We were fortunate to get this fire under control in less than an hour thanks to the hard work of our firefighters and the mutual aid cities that helped us out.

And most importantly, we are very happy to announce that there were no injuries.

However, we want to share with you how different this morning could have been for all of us if it hadn’t been for the heroic actions of one employee of “New Avenues To Independence, Inc”, or NATI that manages the special needs group home that was on fire.

Cortney Noble, 25 years old, is an employee of NATI and was alone caring for three residents in the group home. One resident is wheelchair bound and the other two are ambulatory and all require special needs.

Cortney had heard a cracking & popping sound in the garage and opened the door to find a wall of smoke and flames that had now started to push into the structure. She slammed the door and as quick as she could pushed the wheelchair resident out and returned for the other two residents. She got them out and called 911.

Upon our first due engine’s arrival in less than a minute, there was heavy fire and smoke showing and the feeling we had was we hoped no one was in there!

Cortney had met us and told us she got everyone out and they were all accounted for. You have no idea what a sigh of relief that was. As our firefighters were performing an aggressive primary search to confirm that there was no one in the structure we shifted to a defensive fire attack.

Cortney and the three residents were checked out and were welcomed to be sheltered into the “Dedicated To Children Daycare” that was nearby. The NATI management team quickly arrived and went to work getting clothing, medicine and finding all three residents housing.

Our Fire chief, Bob Searles had met with Cortney in the aftermath to praise her for her heroic actions and unfortunately, tell her that her car was destroyed by the fire. She was very humble and just asked if she could just retrieve from the car, a base to the car seat for her baby at home.

Please pardon this very long post, but we wanted to just tell all of our friends that yesterday the Mentor fire department met a hero, her name is Cortney Noble.

We will all enjoy Christmas a little better because of her.

12/04/2018

The Lake County Crime Lab is partnering up with Willoughby Police Department and collecting toys for Toys for Tots! This is our second year participating and are grateful to be able to help this great cause.

12/02/2018

Our condolences to Lt. Thompson and the Painesville Township FD! Thank you for your service, Tahoe.

It is with great sadness and a very heavy heart that I announce the passing of my Retired K-9 partner Tahoe. Tahoe worked as an Accelerant Detection K-9 (ADC) for the Painesville Township Fire Department. He was born May 23rd, 2005 in the US Customs and Border Protection breeding program before being transferred to the Bureau of Alcohol, To***co, Fi****ms and Explosives for training as an ADC. Tahoe worked in Painesville Township, Lake County and many other areas for over 7 years before retiring in May of 2014. He has enjoyed a long happy retirement with his family. He will be greatly missed! I would like to thank the Staff at the ATF National Canine Trainingand Operations Center for your support and guidance over the years. I would also like to thank the following; Painesville Twp. Trustees, PTFD Fire Chiefs, the Members of PTFD, Lake County Fire Investigation Unit, My fellow ADC K-9 handlers, friends, family, coworkers, Brightwood Animal Hospital, all the Police and Fire Departments we have worked with and many others that have helped and supported this program. Most of all I would like to thank my loving wife and daughter for your sacrifice and support. We all lost a piece of our hearts.

Lieutenant Gordon Thompson
Painesville Township Fire Department

11/29/2018

What a wonderful young lady! Thanks for showing your support to local police and fire departments.

LAKE COUNTY, Ohio - 'Tis the season of giving. Most of us could take a cue from 7-year-old Carleigh. Her dad wrote about how proud of her he was on Facebook and included pictures with local police and fire departments. In the post, Wes Edwards says Carleigh got the idea a few months ago to make cook...

11/15/2018

Our condolences to the Madison Village Police Department. Officer Huffman, thank you for your service.

11/09/2018

Congratulations Patrolman Ward, K 9 Axle and Eastlake PD!

11/02/2018

Our condolences to Perry Police Department on the loss of K-9 Zack.

The unexpected death of Perry Village Police Department K-9 Zack is drawing an outpouring of sympathy, gratitude and prayers on Facebook.

10/16/2018

Forensic Analysts from the Lake County Crime Laboratory participated in Safety Day at the All Saints of St. John Vianney School yesterday. The children were very interested in the Crime Lab and what we do!

09/27/2018

Congratulations Lt. Burgett on this accomplishment!

09/20/2018

Congratulations to everyone's favorite Trace Evidence Supervisor, our own David Green, for receiving the 2018 Midwestern Association of Forensic Scientists Distinguished Service Award.

09/12/2018

Check out the latest in drug trends that we are seeing in Lake County.

Fake Oxycodone pills, which have already proven deadly, are popping up on the streets of Northeast Ohio.

09/07/2018

Congratulations to these three officers! Well deserved!

Painesville police officer Ryan Cueni, Mentor Detective Steven Ondercin and Mentor Patrolman Jason Myers were recognized for heroic efforts by the Lake County Chiefs of Police Association on Sept. 5.

09/06/2018

Congratulations to Officer Ryan Cueni of Painesville PD!

08/28/2018

Painesville Township FD and Lake County are lucky to have Ian! He has helped solve many cases and we love seeing him here at the Crime Lab!

PAINESVILLE TOWNSHIP, Ohio-- There are 53 federal ATF-certified K-9 units in the country and one of them is stationed in Painesville Township. Lt. Gordon Thompson has been the K-9 handler for the Painesville Township Fire Department for 12 years. “I never thought being in the fire service that I w...

08/22/2018

Congratulations Detective Kresja!

08/22/2018

07/24/2018

06/25/2018

The Lake County Crime Laboratory sends our condolences to Mentor PD and to the Officer’s family and friends.

05/12/2018

Come see us at Great Lakes Mall until 3 pm!

05/09/2018

THANK YOU!

Voters have approved a 0.4-mill additional levy for the Lake County Crime Laboratory.

04/30/2018

We had a great turn out for Drug Take Back Day! We even had a special guest, Representative Dave Joyce.

‪I did my part to take unused prescription drugs out of the medicine cabinet and into the hands of law enforcement at the Lake County Crime Laboratory. It’s a safe, no questions asked task. Go to takebackday.dea.gov to find a location near you. ‬

04/27/2018

An event entitled “ : What Happens Next?” was held at Lakeland Community College, presented by the Lake County Prosecutor Victim Assistance Program and the Eastlake Police Victim Advocates. This brings to the forefront what victims of sexual assault go through, and how things are changing for the better. The LCCL DNA laboratory processes all sexual assault cases as soon as they are submitted to the laboratory, so that law enforcement agencies know what they are investigating.

A 16-year old sexual assault survivor who stood on the stage, wiping tears from her eyes as she told a full auditorium, “I am no longer a victim. I am a survivor,” as she shared the story of her assault.

04/25/2018

Thank you for visiting, JD of Kirtland Police.

04/25/2018

Kirtland Police adopted JD two years ago when no one claimed him as a found dog. He has made such an impact on the community, including us at the Crime Lab! He stopped by to see us one last time yesterday. We’ll share those photos later this week. We send our condolences to Kirtland Police & Fire.