Guns, drugs and $145K missing from Sedgwick County evidence area, sheriff says

An audit showed that roughly $145,000, guns and drugs were missing from the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office property and evidence storage but more could still be missing, Sheriff Jeff Easter said Friday.

Easter said a former property and evidence technician and supervisor started being investigated for the missing items after an employee noticed the storage area in disarray on Jan. 24. Both employees no longer worked with the sheriff’s office as of Feb. 27, Easter said. Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said the missing evidence, most of which was supposed to be destroyed, has led to some cases being dismissed.

“In the last week ... (we’ve) gone through and reviewed over 500 cases and dismissed already about 30 and we are reviewing another 40 or so,” Bennett said. “We identified about 30 drug cases that were pending. We are going to dismiss them right now. That doesn’t mean they will remain dismissed.

“But we are not going to keep someone in custody or risk putting them in custody until we can go back and do a complete inventory and audit and ensure the integrity of that particular case is something we can defend in court.”

The cases dropped are lower-level drug cases while the Sheriff’s Office prioritized evidence in larger, pending cases to make sure the evidence still exists, Bennett said.

The known missing items cover cases over the past several years, Easter said.

Easter said audits, which started Feb. 26, have been done internally and by an independent company. The ongoing audits, so far, have turned up the missing items, which include the money and “numerous amounts of drugs and seven guns and power tools.” Easter said one gun has since been recovered after the serial number showed up at a pawn shop.

Easter said some of the money, such as from drug seizures, would be retained by the Sheriff’s Office while other dollars from cases would be destroyed.

The audits are ongoing to account for more than 50,000 items in the Sheriff’s Office possession, Easter said.

“In the beginning of this investigation, it was very evident we were missing items that were never officially destroyed and we felt that this particular supervisor had stolen those items and converted them to his own use,” Easter said, adding the Sheriff’s Office does have checks and balances to make sure items aren’t stolen. “The problem was he was a supervisor and he went unchecked by other supervision … he took full advantage of being the supervisor and had tried to cover his tracks of stealing our property.”

He said they have added some additional procedures for accountability.

“I still don’t have all the facts available to me what all we’re missing, plain and simple,” Easter said, adding it has been one of the worst things to happen in his career since “it is under my leadership.”

The technician’s involvement is still being investigated, Easter said. The technician was initially suspended for not following proper procedures.

The supervisor started at the jail in 2005 and moved to property and evidence in 2012.

“We’ve had a major breach ... it’s very disheartening,” Easter said. “It’s very disappointing.”

This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 4:39 PM.