Ex-Sedgwick County deputy involved in racist text messages loses certification after stalking

A former Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office sergeant who was at the center of a text message scandal involving other deputies, Wichita police officers and firefighters has had his law enforcement certification revoked for stalking.

Justin Maxfield pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of stalking an ex-girlfriend in 2021 and was sentenced to a year of probation. The probation was dropped a few months early after an attorney argued it was affecting his ability to get a job and travel, court records show.

The stalking case involved Maxfield driving by his ex-girlfriend’s house and showing up at her work twice — once kissing her on the forehead before he left, according to the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training’s summary of the revocation. That happened between March 24, 2021 and April 7, 2021, while Maxfield worked for the sheriff’s office.

It made the woman feel “nervous and uncomfortable,” the summary says.

When police were investigating Maxfield in the stalking case in April 2021, they found the racist, inappropriate and extremist messages exchanged with officers on his phone. Maxfield was often the instigator in the messages.

Maxfield’s messages included a photo of George Floyd that said: “You’re telling me (racial slur) couldn’t breathe?” with arrows pointing to Floyd’s nose and lips, a conversation with a Wichita officer about beating “Stupid Mexicans” and showing allegiance to the extremist group the Three Percenters. Maxfield also told Wichita officers that they were the “ultimate de-escalators” who “permanently deescalated people who needed permanent de-escalation.”

Maxfield and the Wichita officers had all been involved in fatal shootings. The three Wichita officers — two current and one former — all liked, loved or commented back on Maxfield’s message.

The handling of discipline in the cases between the sheriff’s office and WPD was a stark contrast.

Maxfield was arrested in the stalking case April 8, 2021, and suspended without pay the same day. He resigned on May 21, 2021, while on suspension. The other two deputies involved in the message scandal also resigned while on suspension.

The Wichita Police Department, under former chief Gordon Ramsay, suspended only an officer who called Ramsay a tool. Multiple officers were suspended later after The Eagle reported the messages and lack of discipline and the city reopened its investigation.

Investigators then learned two Wichita Fire Departments supervisors and another Wichita officer, making it 13, were involved in the messages.

Maxfield, the fire department supervisors and a dozen of the Wichita officers had all served on the elite SWAT team together.