Ex-police officer charged with stealing drugs from evidence room

The Kansas City Star
By GLENN E. RICE

Weston, KS

A former Weston police officer was charged today in Platte County Circuit Court with stealing drugs from the police department’s evidence room.

Kyle Zumbrunn, 27, is accused of stealing a controlled substance. Zumbrunn has already pleaded guilty to selling the drugs to an undercover agent with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, said Prosecutor Eric Zahnd.

Zumbrunn is serving a 16-month sentence in the Lansing Correctional Facility, Zahnd said.

The criminal charge filed today stemmed from a lengthy investigation by the Platte County Sheriff’s Department, which included a review of evidence handling procedures by the Weston Police Department, Zahnd said.

According to court records, KBI officials contacted Weston police on Sept. 22 to alert them that they had arrested Zumbrunn for selling pills.

Weston police conducted an inventory of their evidence room and discovered that 28 morphine pills, 45 Oxycodone pills and 37 morphine sulfate pills were missing, Zahnd said.

Zumbrunn was allegedly working on duty as a Weston police officer when he took the pills.

If convicted on the Platte County charge, Zumbrunn faces up to seven years in prison, Zahnd said.

By Missouri law, the investigative files remain closed. However, Zahnd said he hoped the court would release some documents so the Sheriff’s Department could give Weston city officials its findings of how police had handled evidence.

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