Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department escapes charges w/ copy of Kansas AG's letter

By Roger McKinney

rmckinney@joplinglobe.com

COLUMBUS, Kan. — The Kansas attorney general’s office has declined to file charges against anyone in the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department related to its spending of jail inmate revenue.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation initiated a probe in February to look into revenue from an inmate phone system and a commissary at the jail. The Sheriff’s Department since 2005 had spent the money on items at the jail instead of turning over the funds to the county treasurer for deposit in the county’s general fund.

Late last year, after press reports revealed the situation, the department began turning over the inmate revenue to the county treasurer.

Cherokee County Attorney John Bullard sent the investigative file to the attorney general’s office for review on June 25.

Assistant Attorney General Rick Guinn outlined his reasoning in a letter to KBI agent Jeff Hupp. The letter seems to suggest that Guinn gave the Sheriff’s Department the benefit of the doubt.

“As your investigation revealed, there appears to be a disparity in the way various sheriff’s departments around the state are handling these checks,” Guinn wrote. “The Cherokee County sheriff is choosing to document the receipt of the checks and then reinvest the money back into the jail for improvements, transportation, repairs or for staff training. There is no evidence that the monies were being appropriated for personal usage or usages which fall outside jail operations.”

Guinn wrote that an attorney general’s opinion may be issued on the topic.

Bullard said he thinks an opinion may be useful in avoiding similar situations in the future. He said he can see the reasoning behind Guinn’s decision.

Sheriff Steve Norman and Undersheriff Kent Soucy on Wednesday did not immediately return calls seeking comment. Norman issued a written statement in February when the investigation started saying that it would find no criminal wrongdoing.

“The investigation will show that there has never been any criminal intent or activity transpiring in this department,” Norman wrote at the time. He also wrote that none of the inmate money was used for personal gain.

Cherokee County Commissioner Pat Collins on Wednesday responded to the information with hearty laughter. Collins, when he was sheriff in 1998, spent 30 days in jail and forfeited his office after pleading guilty to misuse of public funds and filing false information on state income-tax forms. He kept in a plastic bowl in his desk drawer revenues he had received from a phone company for placing the company’s phones in the county jail.

Collins said he didn’t spend any of the money, for personal gain or otherwise. He said the attorney general has changed since he was sent to jail for the crime.

“Obviously, they’re not treating them the same as they treated me,” he said of the decision.