Millsboro officer indicted on drug tampering

A Millsboro police sergeant, suspended after he was found unresponsive in his police vehicle, now faces drug tampering charges after a grand jury indictment.

Matthew Dufour, 34, who has been on administrative leave without pay or benefits since March, was found unresponsive in a marked police vehicle during the mid-morning hours Feb. 19, according to a previous press release.

He was treated at the scene, including with Naloxone, and transported to a hospital for further treatment. Toxicology analysis later showed fentanyl, oxycodone and cocaine in Dufour’s system, according to a press release from the Attorney General’s Office.  

Dufour, a sergeant assigned as evidence custodian for the Millsboro Police Department, tampered with and used drugs stored in the department’s evidence locker from November 2022 to February 2023, officials said.

In one such instance, officials said, Dufour removed suspected cocaine from an evidence envelope, replaced it with suspected cocaine from a separate case, and forged another Millsboro officer’s initials without his permission. Dufour also logged accompanying false entries into a law enforcement information system, officials said.

Officials said Dufour only tampered with evidence on closed cases that were set for destruction, estimating he did so about 13 times. As a consequence, officials said, Dufour’s misconduct cast a shadow on drug evidence that he could have accessed, and forced prosecutors in March to drop several pending criminal cases in accordance with their ethical and constitutional responsibilities. 

Dufour faces multiple felony counts of first-degree tampering with public records, second-degree forgery, and obtaining controlled substances by theft. He also faces misdemeanor counts of offering a false instrument for filing and official misconduct. If convicted on all charges, Dufour faces up to 27 years in prison.

His actions were reported to the Department of Justice by Millsboro Police Department, which began an investigation into Dufour’s actions as soon as it became aware of them, officials said, before referring the investigation to Delaware State Police.  

“Honor is the characteristic that all law enforcement must uphold,” said Millsboro Chief of Police Brian K. Calloway. “Officers must always do the right thing, even when no one is watching. When our agency discovered an officer was suspected of criminal misconduct, our department immediately reported these allegations to the Department of Justice requesting a full investigation. I want to commend the men and women of the Millsboro Police Department who continue to service our community with honor, because that is the commitment our agency has made to our community."