Less than half of the sexual assault kits held by the Prichard Police Department have been processed, the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office has announced, and the remaining kits are now being expedited through federal channels as part of an escalating corruption investigation into the department.
According to an MCSO press release, 99 of the 247 sexual assault kits collected by the Prichard Police Department have been processed and reviewed by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences. The remaining 148 kits, generally considered key pieces of evidence in criminal sexual assault cases, are being expedited. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has taken custody of the kits and is working to process them.
Sheriff frames the effort as accountability for victims
Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch said the push to test the backlog is about accountability and ensuring that every victim’s case receives attention.
“This is about accountability and ensuring every victim’s case receives the attention it deserves,” Burch said. “By identifying every kit, securing the evidence, and partnering with the FBI to complete the testing, we are taking an important step toward seeking justice for victims and strengthening the integrity of these investigations.”
In its release, the Sheriff’s Office said that as forensic testing is completed and results are returned, investigators will evaluate each case and determine the appropriate investigative and prosecutorial steps based on the evidence and applicable law. The office committed to making every effort to pursue justice for the victims whose cases depend on the kits.
The kits surfaced inside a broader corruption probe
The announcement comes as Prichard police officers remain under a corruption investigation spearheaded by the FBI’s Mobile Field Office in partnership with local law enforcement. The Sheriff’s Office has taken over day-to-day operations of the Prichard Police Department while that investigation continues.
So far, two Prichard officers have been arrested. Officer Emanuel Naman Dotch was taken into custody in June on charges including bribery, evidence tampering and civil rights violations. Officer Jihad Hasan Irby was arrested the following week in connection with crimes Dotch is accused of committing.
Investigators have assembled an extensive evidence inventory in the case. According to MCSO, 5,878 pieces of evidence have been gathered in the investigation into the Prichard Police Department, including the sexual assault kits and 1,494 firearms.
Why unprocessed kits matter
Sexual assault kits typically contain biological evidence collected from a victim during a medical examination. When a kit sits untested, prosecutors lose one of the strongest objective links between a suspect and a crime, and cases can stall or collapse entirely. National audits of untested kits have repeatedly shown that testing older kits can surface serial offenders and, in some cases, exonerate the wrongly accused.
The Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences has historically faced backlogs in processing evidence from agencies across the state, which is why departments handling large volumes of kits have increasingly turned to the FBI laboratory for assistance. Moving 148 kits into federal custody represents an unusually large transfer for a single municipal police department and underscores the scale of the evidence review now underway in Prichard.
“As forensic testing is completed and results are returned, investigators will evaluate each case and determine the appropriate investigative and prosecutorial steps based on the evidence and applicable law,” the release stated. “The Sheriff’s Office is committed to ensuring these cases receive the thorough attention they deserve and that every effort is made to pursue justice for victims.”
What happens next for victims and their cases
As results come back, prosecutors will review each case for charges that may still be viable, and victims whose kits were collected years ago may be contacted by investigators as the review proceeds. The Sheriff’s Office has not said how long the FBI testing will take or how many of the 148 kits involve cases that remain within a statute of limitations.
For now, day-to-day operations of the Prichard Police Department remain under the Sheriff’s Office’s control, and investigators say the review of the department’s evidence inventory, including its firearms and kit holdings, is continuing. Anyone with information relevant to the investigation can contact the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office.