Wilmington , Delaware ( CNN ) -- Prosecutors across Delaware are dropping charges in scores of drug cases -- and thousands of others remain in limbo -- as an investigation continues into missing evidence at the chief medical examiner 's drug lab . Delaware Public Defender Brendan O'Neill told CNN that prosecutors are throwing in the towel on one drug case after another . `` It seems the state is willing to settle on very favorable terms for the defendant or drop the case altogether , '' he said . In February , Delaware State Police announced a joint investigation with the Delaware attorney general 's office after drug evidence at the state 's controlled-substances lab had gone missing , been tampered with or been substituted . At the time , there were 3,700 pending drug cases , 500 of which were felony cases . `` Access to the drug evidence locker was not restricted to , or monitored by , a single individual and could be accessed by any OCME employee with a passkey and a passcode , '' Deputy Attorney General Caroline Cleary wrote in a letter , dated April 16 , to O'Neill 's office . Cleary continued , `` The door to the locker was left open at times . '' O'Neill said , `` The drug lab failed in its most basic security protocols and undermined the reliability of any evidence it maintains . '' Every state and local police agency has been working to complete internal audits of a total of more than 20,000 evidence bags . The drug lab has remained closed , and the state is sending drug evidence to a private lab in Pennsylvania to be analyzed . No one has been arrested in the investigation of the drug lab . The chief medical examiner , Dr. Richard Callery , who makes $ 198,500 a year , was suspended with pay in late February on another matter involving his alleged moonlighting job performing autopsies for the state of Rhode Island .
Delaware police are investigating drug charges amid a drug - related investigation . State police , attorney general shut the lab after evidence went missing , was altered . Local and state law enforcement are auditing more than 20,000 evidence bags .