Sedgwick County detention deputy jailed for lying about sexual assault in 2016
The Sedgwick County Sheriff said Friday that a detention deputy applying for a new position within the agency has been fired and arrested on suspicion of criminal charges after she admitted to a background investigator that she’d lied about being sexually assaulted by a coworker in 2016.
The deputy, LeAnn Bailey Blair Schlicher of Derby, was booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on Thursday on suspicion of interfering with law enforcement, jail records show. The crime is a felony.
Easter in a Friday afternoon news conference said Schlicher accused a fellow detention deputy of the fake sexual assault on Dec. 28, 2016. At the time, the allegations led to a criminal investigation where prosecutors declined to file charges, as well as an internal investigation that resulted in both deputies being disciplined for unrelated policy violations.
This year, Schlicher applied to be a commissioned deputy with the Sheriff’s Office, prompting a background investigation during the hiring process.
On June 23, during an interview with a background investigator, Schlicher “admitted to filing a false police report to detectives about the December 2016, sexual assault report,” Easter said.
Because knowingly making a false report to law enforcement is a crime, the admission tipped off another criminal investigation, Easter said.
Schlicher was arrested Thursday and has has since been “relieved of her duties,” Easter said. She started working for the Sheriff’s Office in 2015.
The detention deputy who was the target of the false report is no longer working for the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office, Easter said. He would not comment on whether that deputy and Schlicher had been in a relationship or had a romantic involvement of any sort.
The case against Schlicher will be turned over to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office, which will decide whether to file formal charges.
“Every alleged complaint (against an employee) is taken seriously and is investigated either criminally or internally, including false complaints of misconduct,” Easter said during the news conference, adding that “deputies are not above the law.”
This story was originally published June 26, 2020 at 1:59 PM.
