From: Platte County Prosecuting Attorney "Eric Zahnd"
Date: June 03, 2010
Subject: Former police officer sentenced to 4 years in prison
A former Weston police officer has been sentenced to four years in prison for stealing drugs from the police department’s evidence room. Kyle Zumbrunn, 27, received the sentence in Platte County Circuit Court on June 3 after pleading guilty to stealing a controlled substance. Zumbrunn previously pled guilty to selling the drugs to an undercover police officer in Kansas.
Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said, “When a police officer abuses the power of the badge by stealing drugs from the evidence room so he can sell them on the street, prison is the only appropriate sentence.”
Circuit Court Judge Lee Hull handed down the sentence, noting during the sentencing that Zumbrunn had violated the “trust that people place in those who wear the uniform” as a police officer.
The stealing investigation against Zumbrunn began on September 22, 2009, when the Kansas Bureau of Investigations contacted the Weston Police Department, reporting that Zumbrunn had been for selling pills. An inventory of the evidence room at the Weston Police Department revealed 28 Morphine pills, 45 Oxycodone pills, and 37 Morphine Sulfate pills were missing. |
Kyle Zumbrunn
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Zumbrunn admitted stealing the pills while working on duty as a police officer for the City of Weston. Zumbrunn said he took the pills to sell for extra money.
Prior to charges being filed, the Platte County Sheriff’s Department conducted an extensive investigation, which included a review of evidence handling procedures by the Weston Police Department.
Zahnd said, “The Mayor, city attorney, and Weston police department all cooperated fully in this investigation. It’s good to have this criminal case resolved, so everyone can focus fully on making Weston’s evidence handling procedures the best they can be.”
Zumbrunn previously pled guilty in Atchison County, Kansas to selling a controlled substance. He was sentenced to 16 months in the Kansas Department of Corrections on that charge. His four-year sentence will run concurrently with the Kansas sentence.
Zumbrunn faced a maximum of seven years in prison. Zahnd recommended that Zumbrunn be sentenced to six years in prison, while Zumbrunn’s lawyer argued for a three-year term.
The case was investigated by the Platte County Sheriff’s Department and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. It was personally prosecuted by Zahnd and First Assistant Prosecutor Mark Gibson.
Eric G. Zahnd
Platte County Prosecuting Attorney
415 Third Street
Suite 60
Platte City, Missouri 64079
(816) 858-3476
(816) 858-3472 (fax)
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