Rodents infiltrated a narcotics evidence room at Houston police’s headquarters, accessing drugs and potentially disrupting open criminal cases. The Harris County District Attorney’s Office is notifying defense attorneys in more than 3,

The rodents are enjoying marijuana at the Houston Police Department that has been sitting in evidence for years.

To illustrate the problem, Houston police Chief J. Noe Diaz pointed to one piece of cocaine evidence from 1996 that was still in the lockup. The individual tied to the drugs pleaded guilty, was sentenced to 20 years in prison and has since been released, he said.

"We've got 400,000 lbs. of marijuana in storage, that the rats are the only ones enjoying it," said Houston Mayor John Whitmire.

A rat colony in a downtown Houston police property room has compromised a bag of mushrooms intended as evidence against two defendants.

Houston police were first made aware of rats dining in their evidence room in October, but professional exterminators had difficulties resolving the issue because of the rodents c

HPD and the Harris County District Attorney's office is changing how evidence is stored after a 'drug-addicted rat' problem caused them to revaluate there evidence property room.

"Drug-addicted rats" are destroying drug evidence in Houston, potentially comprising 3,600 open drug-related cases