Wichita police officer jailed after ‘possibly stalking’ female co-worker on Instagram
A Wichita police officer had been booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on suspicion of stalking a female co-worker earlier this month using Instagram.
Wichita police officials learned that Officer Ryan Jones “was possibly stalking” the woman and asked the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office to investigate the matter “to avoid conflicts of interest,” according to a department news release emailed to reporters Wednesday morning. Booking records show Jones was jailed Tuesday night, at 9:49 p.m.
The 31-year-old was still in the jail’s custody and was being housed in the clinic Wednesday morning, according to an online log of inmates. Later in the day, he was released on a $5,000 own recognizance bond, records show.
Sheriff’s Lt. Benjamin Blick said police were made aware of the alleged stalking behavior on Oct. 6, the same day Jones reportedly had contact with the co-worker. Blick said all of the communications occurred over Instagram, a popular photo and video sharing social media networking service.
He declined to share specifics of the problematic Instagram posts, other than saying the contact occurred through direct messages.
“We’re not releasing the content of the IG posts at this time,” Blick said by email.
The police department turned the case over to the Sheriff’s Office to investigate on Oct. 15, Blick said. The investigation continued Wednesday, according to the police news release.
“It’s an active investigation and will be presented” to the prosecutor’s office, which will decide whether to file any formal criminal charges in the case, police spokesman Officer Charley Davidson said by phone.
Jones is a four-year veteran of the Wichita Police Department and was assigned recently to the city’s Patrol South Bureau, according to police records and the news release. He was placed on paid administrative leave Tuesday, pending the results of a criminal investigation and an internal agency review.
The charge Jones was booked into jail on suspicion of is a misdemeanor, the police news release said.
This story was originally published October 21, 2020 at 9:50 AM.
