WELD COUNTY, Colo. — No criminal charges will be filed against a Weld County DNA analyst who was fired this year after the discovery of "anomalies" in her work.
Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke made the announcement Thursday.
Rourke told 9NEWS Investigates that problems were discovered in five spreadsheet entries among more than 2,000 cases that the analyst worked – and that it was "at least equally likely, if not more likely, that this was a result of inexperience or the inability to work in the Microsoft Excel program without making mistakes."
The Weld County Sheriff's Office fired Chiara Wuensch on Feb. 28 from her position at the Northern Colorado Regional Forensic Lab, where she had worked for more than 10 years. A separate CBI investigation into its own employees led to the discovery of the anomalies in Wuensch's work. That investigation is ongoing.
"These types of deletions, alterations of data, certainly on its face could be the product of intentional efforts to hide or to change the truth," Rourke said.
Wuensch told investigators she did not intentionally change any data and that any problems were likely the result of mistakes using Excel.
Rourke noted that Wuensch did follow-up work on the DNA in all five cases, making it extremely unlikely that she intentionally altered data.
"To us that said, this isn't an indication where, or, or a case in which she's cutting corners because she did the work anyway," Rourke said.
In addition, Rourke said that "none of these five impacted any criminal prosecution any criminal investigation in any way, shape or form."
Neither Wuensch nor her attorney returned messages left by 9NEWS.
Weld County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Melissa Chesmore said the DA's conclusions would do nothing to change the decision to fire Wuensch.
The anomalies at the heart of the investigation fell into three categories as identified by the DA's office: the deletion of data indicating a small amount of male DNA; the addition of the word “undetermined” to a cell in a spreadsheet; and the alteration of values related to potential contamination to a smaller number.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Investigations & Crime
9NEWS+ has multiple live daily shows including 9NEWS Mornings, Next with Kyle Clark and 9NEWS+ Daily, an original streaming program. 9NEWS+ is where you can watch live breaking news, weather updates, and press conferences. You can also replay recent newscasts and find videos on demand of our top stories, local politics, investigations and Colorado specific features.
To download 9NEWS+ on Roku search for KUSA.
To download 9NEWS+ on Fire TV search for 9NEWS.