By Janice Gregorson

Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN 

ROCHESTER -- An Olmsted County jury likely will decide Thursday if Austin police Capt. Curt Rude is guilty of taking narcotics from the department's evidence room.

He is on trial, charged with felony theft and felony fifth-degree controlled substance crime for allegedly being in possession of OxyContin, a narcotic. He also faces a gross misdemeanor charge of interfering with property in official custody.

If convicted of a felony, he would lose his police license. He also would be forced to resign his position on the Austin School Board -- a position he was elected to the very day he is accused of taking the drugs, Nov. 6, 2007.

Authorities say Rude illegally took two bottles of the prescription painkillers from a 55-gallon barrel in the police department's evidence room. The barrel had evidence from closed cases that was to be destroyed.

Rude says he did nothing wrong that day. He spent hours on the witness stand Wednesday, telling jurors he not only had access to the police evidence room, but that he routinely took items from what he called the "burn" barrel without signing them out. He said he used drugs from closed cases for presentations at schools and as props for television stories. He testified that there is no department policy requiring items be signed out from the "burn" barrel.

His statements Wednesday were contrasted with answers he gave Nov.. 13, 2007, to an investigator from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Then, Rude said he didn't know why he had removed the drugs from the barrel and ripped open the evidence bag that contained the pills. He also said he initially lied to Austin Police Chief Paul Philipp about taking the drugs.

"In my mind's eye, I only lied for a few seconds,'' he told the investigator at the time.

On Tuesday, Austin Police Chief Paul Philipp testified that evidence removed from the burn barrel must be signed out. He said contraband needs to be tracked and accounted for.

Rude testified Wednesday that he did take the OxyContin but never removed it from the police department and never intended to take it out of the building. He said he planned to research the drug to find out what had killed his friend, Mark Johnson, a KAAL-TV reporter who died of an overdose seven months earlier. The drugs were from a criminal case involving Johnson.

Rude has been on unpaid leave since shortly after the alleged misconduct was discovered. He now works as an over-the-road trucker.

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