One evening one of Katherine Fernandez-Rundle's prosecutors, assigned to a specialized unit, walked into the vacant office of a friend, another prosecutor, to look for a file. In the bottom drawer of a file cabinet, among common personal effects, was the unsmoked remnant of a marijuana cigarette, commonly called a "roach."
The startled discoverer immediately informed his supervisor. The supervisor listened to the report and responded, "Just flush it down the toilet." In disbelief, the discoverer paused, not saying anything. "It's just a joint," the supervisor continued. "Just get rid of it."
The prosecutor who found the roach left his supervisor's office. Later, after the supervisor had gone home, he picked up the roach with a piece of paper, walked back into the supervisor's office and put it on her desk. He then turned, shut off the lights, locked the supervisor's door, and left for the day himself.
The supervisor never confronted the prosecutor in whose office and among whose personal effects the roach was found, nor did she tell anyone else in the administration. The incident was just covered up and forgotten.
-David Ranck
