Two KCK policemen admit they stole while on duty
Take away the badges, and the Kansas City, Kan., police thefts looked petty — an iPod, other electronics such as PlayStation games, and $640 in cash over a year’s time.
But in the end it wasn’t the haul that was significant, it was the message that Police Chief Rick Armstrong wanted to send: The community won’t put up with dishonest officers.
On Tuesday, two suspended Kansas City, Kan., police officers admitted that they stole electronics or cash while serving search warrants as part of an elite tactical unit.
The admission came from Darryl M. Forrest, 32, and Dustin Sillings, 34, as the men pleaded guilty in federal court to the felony of conspiring to violate people’s civil rights.
A woman first reported items missing from her house in 2010 after a search warrant was served there. The other thefts happened during other searches between January 2010 and an FBI sting on Jan. 4, 2011.
During the sting, Forrest stole $300, an iPod and Nintendo games. Sillings stole $340.
“Dustin Sillings was overheard saying it was a pity the house did not contain more swag,” Prosecutor Tris Hunt told the federal judge while presenting evidence.
Under federal guidelines, the men face 18 to 33 months in prison, although the judge could sentence them to less time or as much as 10 years.
A third suspect, Officer Jeffrey M. Bell, is scheduled to plead guilty today. He also has been suspended without pay since January of last year. The three men were the only officers charged after the sting and investigation of the department’s Selective Crime Occurrence Reduction Enforcement Unit.
In announcing the investigation and arrests last year, Police Chief Rick Armstrong said he was sick about the matter and said, “I think we’re embarrassed.” But he went ahead anyway, knowing it put a cloud over all the department’s 366 sworn officers.
He started the investigation by internal affairs and the FBI after finding valid a 2010 complaint of police stealing during a search warrant, he said at the time.
Armstrong said Tuesday that he is “saddened that a small number of officers in this department have engaged in criminal conduct.” It should not reflect on other officers who serve with distinction and display high character, he said.
Unified Government Mayor Joe Reardon said the investigation doesn’t reflect on the department as a whole.
“There are many men and women in blue that are committed to serving our community each and every day with respect and honor; they’ve earned our trust,” he said.
As news of the guilty pleas circulated, many wondered how the department might be affected.
Former Wyandotte County District Attorney Nick Tomasic said this week, “A few friends and associates (of those charged) are going to complain and gripe, but most are going to understand what is happening — they’re trying to weed out problems.”
State Sen. David Haley, a Kansas City, Kan., Democrat, said the case stands as a warning to any sticky-fingered police in the area and will not change favorable citizen opinion toward most police.
“There are petty thieves among us in any capacity, from the pulpit to politics to the police department,” he said.
United Government Commissioner Nathan Barnes would like to see procedural changes.
“I have had personal phone calls from individuals that have been wronged through this process and not wanted to come forward because of their checkered past,” he said.
Barnes didn’t connect the current investigation or defendants to those calls. But, he added that it wouldn’t be right to call this a one-time thing.
“Nobody believes it was just $600; nobody believes it’s just Xboxes,” he said.
That’s also what police thought at first, so last year they asked suspected drug dealers and other offenders to come forward if they had been robbed.
That call did not seem to work, and little wonder, said defense lawyer Patrick Peters, who is also a former assistant Jackson County prosecutor.
Drug dealers sometimes complain to lawyers that police robbed them, he said, but there is no way of knowing if the accusation is true, and no dealer wants to press it, he said.
That would anger police, and offenders could face harsher charges if they admit the money or drugs was theirs, he said. Also, any money would be forfeited anyway unless they could prove they got it legally.
At the plea hearing Tuesday, Judge Kathryn H. Vratil asked Forrest why he would risk his career for such petty stealing.
“Being a follower, I guess,” he answered.
Jeff Lanza, a former FBI agent who has worked police corruption cases, said they usually involve charges more serious than stolen PlayStation video games and $640 in cash.
“Generally police corruption isn’t petty,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.”
Police officers who turn to crime and get away with it can inspire others to follow suit, according to Lanza and a U.S. Justice Department study on police corruption.
As Commissioner Barnes puts it, “When you’ve got 1 percent of cowboys and creeps that get away with stuff, it spreads the virus to the 99.”
So, Lanza asks, “If you don’t take this behavior very seriously, where does it stop?”
And there will be more turmoil for the police department.
Seven other SCORE officers were handcuffed and detained but not charged after the January sting, and all have sued Wyandotte County’s Unified Government and the police for alleged violations of their rights.
The last of those lawsuits, by Officer Scott Hammons, was filed Monday. He contends he suffered a shoulder injury that required surgery when he was handcuffed behind his back while wearing a bullet-proof vest. He also says he suffers from trauma, a damaged reputation and a loss of promotion opportunities.
One of the officers who was not charged in the thefts, Michael Mills, was charged last month with aggravated assault in an unrelated incident in which he’s accused of shooting into an occupied car while off duty. He is on unpaid administrative leave.
This story was originally published January 16, 2012 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Two KCK policemen admit they stole while on duty."