Wyandotte County DA reviewing incident at jail involving inmate, Sheriff’s employee
The Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office is reviewing a case after a Sheriff’s department employee was placed on leave and investigated by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation for an incident involving an inmate.
Wyandotte County Sheriff Donald Ash made the announcement at a press conference Friday in order to maintain transparency according to Unified Government spokesperson Mike Taylor.
Ash, however, declined to identify the employee involved or provide details on the incident that led to the investigation.
The incident, Ash said, occurred on Sept. 5 at the Wyandotte County Detention Center. He said he learned of it the next day and notified the KBI for investigation.
The KBI finished it’s investigation this week and passed it over the the District Attorney’s Office for consideration of criminal charges.
The District Attorney’s office has not yet made any decisions on charging, according to spokesman Jonathan Carter.
KBI spokeswoman Melissa Underwood confirmed that the office requested assistance from the office investigating “an allegation against an employee.” She said further information will be released if the investigation leads to an arrest or charges.
Ash said he has also requested an administrative investigation by an external agency to determine if department policies were violated.
“I hold myself and my employees to the highest moral, ethical and legal standards,” Ash said in a statement.
Decisions as to whether the employee will be reinstated at the office will not be made until after the conclusion of the investigations, Ash said.
“This law enforcement job is all about public trust and we take that very seriously,” Ash said.
KCTV5 reported on the case last week. The employee involved, they reported, was Sergeant David Toland.
This story was originally published November 1, 2019 at 6:20 PM.
