Police: No evidence found on Karen Pollard's phone

Karen Pollard, at her husband's probable cause hearing in Rochester District Court on Tuesday. (Harrison Thorp photo)

ROCHESTER – Rochester Police said on Thursday they have completed the forensic study of Karen Pollard’s town-issued cellphone and found no evidence in connection with the hit and run incident in which her husband has been charged.

Karen Pollard, the city’s economic development director and a deputy city manager, was a passenger in the car her husband was driving the night of Dec. 29 when he allegedly struck a woman on Lowell Street, then left the scene and continued home without stopping.

Leslie Pollard, 51, of 17 Hemlock St., has been charged with felony conduct after an accident and misdemeanor drunken driving. His case has been bound over to Strafford County Superior Court after a probable cause hearing on Tuesday, a hearing at which a police officer who testified said Leslie Pollard confessed to the crime during the booking process at Rochester Police headquarters just hours after the incident and his subsequent arrest.

Police affidavits say Karen Pollard made several phone calls to Rochester Police Chief Michael Allen soon after the police investigation began Dec. 29 just a few minutes after the crash, which left a 28-year-old city woman with a broken collarbone. Allen has said he returned none of the messages.

Four days after the accident Karen Pollard reportedly called police to see if she could get her cellphone out of her husband’s Ford Taurus, which police seized on Dec. 30.

Police found the phone on the driver’s side of the vehicle and executed a search warrant for the phone because they thought there might be additional messages that could be useful in their investigation.

Karen Pollard at first refused to turn over the passcode for the phone, spurring prosecutors to file a motion to compel her to, but a day before a hearing on the matter last week, she relented and through her attorney agreed to turn over the passcode.