Retired Wichita police detective who admitted to sexual harassment loses certification

A former Wichita police officer accused of sexually harassing a coworker has had his law enforcement certification revoked after being granted a diversion from criminal prosecution.

Rick Craig, formerly of the Wichita Police Department, had his certification revoked in April by the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training, or KSCPOST. The revocation order first appeared on the oversight board’s website in May.

Craig was a detective with the WPD training bureau when he retired while under an internal investigation in April 2019, The Eagle previously reported. The 53-year-old man had just been charged with a misdemeanor crime and placed on unpaid administrative leave.

He was accused him of sexually harassing a female coworker while on duty with unwanted touching and sexual innuendo. Included in the alleged harassment was caressing the civilian employee’s hand, attempting to look down her blouse and pretending to take an up-skirt photo as coworkers laughed, according to documents filed in Sedgwick County District Court.

But what ultimately led to the criminal charge was going into the woman’s office and, without permission, putting his hand over her mouth, pushing her back into her desk chair and kissing the back of his hand — an act Craig admitted as part of a deal with prosecutors.

Craig declined an interview with criminal investigators, according to an affidavit written by a Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office detective.

The investigator wrote in the affidavit that the victim said she felt humiliated, ashamed and embarrassed, but had been hesitant to report the “increasing amount of sexual harassment.” She said that she filed the report after a friend encouraged her to and after the unit received a new captain, who she believed “would do something to help her instead of cover for Craig.”

As part of a pretrial diversion agreement signed in October, Craig admitted he is guilty of battery. The charge filed by prosecutors alleged he “unlawfully and knowingly cause(d) physical contact with another person ... done in a rude, insulting or angry manner.”

The conditions for his 12 months of deferred prosecution include not breaking any laws, completing a batterer’s intervention program, doing 100 hours of community service and paying $160 in diversion costs, $160 in court costs and a $33 jail processing fee. Violating these or other terms of the agreement could result in the case going to trial.