WyCo sheriff candidate alleges fraud, claims others ‘trying to manipulate’ reality
An election next week in Wyandotte County will mirror former ones for sheriff, as Celisha Towers, a former sheriff's deputy, challenges incumbent Daniel Soptic for the seat.
Towers, a resident of Kansas City, Kansas, served as a deputy in the department from 2013 to 2016. She previously ran for sheriff in the 2017 and 2021 general elections.
Soptic has led the department since 2021. He was elected and sworn in as sheriff after Donald Ash’s retirement. Before then, Ash led the department for over 12 years.
Towers has not worked in law enforcement for over five years, according to state records.
Towers has claimed election fraud and misconduct in the elections where she previously ran for sheriff. A federal judge ruled in August that Towers’ racketeering allegations tied to her failed sheriff campaigns in 2017 and 2021 were conclusory and lacked specific facts or evidence, according to court records.
She also sued the department in 2017, alleging discrimination tied to her firing from her previous employment as a deputy. A court enforced settlements in the case in December 2018, court records show.
Towers did not respond to multiple requests from The Star for an interview. But following the publication of a story about the Wyandotte sheriff’s race, a reporter received a lengthy, erratic email from Towers’ campaign email address that appears to be from the candidate herself.
When The Star reached back out to confirm the statement came from Towers, the same sender demanded the newspaper stop contacting the campaign email address.
In the August primary, Soptic won 6,451 votes according to an unofficial count from the Wyandotte County Election Office. Towers won 2,473 votes.
This year’s sheriff elect will inherit ongoing challenges in the agency, including staff shortages, the need for new equipment and the line-of-duty death of a deputy earlier this year.
A man’s death at the Wyandotte County jail, ruled a homicide by a medical examiner, also looms over the race. A jail worker has been charged with murder in the case.
According to campaign materials, Towers is running on a platform of changing investigative processes for officer misconduct, and developing systems for community oversight, among other issues.
Email claims Towers won sheriff’s race
Towers’ law enforcement officer license lapsed in 2021, according to records from the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training (CPOST).
She was employed as a full-time officer at the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office from July 1, 2013, through July 7, 2016, according to CPOST records containing Towers’ employment history.
Towers did not initially respond to The Star’s multiple requests for an interview or to answer questions about her candidacy, but her eventual email response denied some of the information contained in court records.
The Star received an email from what appears to be Towers’ campaign email address on Oct. 24 with the name “Celisha Towers” as the sender. In the email, Towers said she did not agree with a judge’s decision to dismiss her lawsuit against the county and that she believes she won the election for Wyandotte County Sheriff in 2021.
In the email, which appeared to be a rebuttal to the courts’ ruling and prior election results, as well as pushback against media reports, she also said she continues to pursue her case, claiming election fraud.
“I Celisha Towers have already won the Wyandotte County Election and any past elections and all lies have been revealed spiritually and physically for the Sheriff position and in case 24cv4024 will only work for the good in Celisha Towers favor,” the email said.
The email also said that Towers “outranks” her political opponent and the media both “spiritually and physically,” and that she “commands that only the truth manifest” in her favor, and demands that any media outlet cease using her name or photograph in connection with the election, as well as calling for Soptic to be recalled as sheriff and for the arrest of others she believes are involved in crimes against her.
“...your words and lies have no power to manifest in Celisha Towers reality and I call my power back to me Celisha Towers for the Sheriff position in Wyandotte County Kansas from every entity, every timeline, corporation person lying trying to manipulate my reality and trying to harvest Celisha Towers energy or push a vision of Destiny Swap forward does not have Celisha Towers consent,” the email said.
When The Star reached back out to confirm the statement came from Towers, the same sender demanded the newspaper stop contacting the campaign email address, claiming “your intentions are not pure.”
The Star was unable to reach Towers for an interview about her candidacy, or to find people who know her and could confirm her contact information.
Discrimination lawsuit settlements
In 2017, Towers sued the Unified Government of Wyandotte County for discrimination after being fired from the sheriff’s office for violating their residence policy. Towers, who represented herself in the case, alleged racial discrimination under Title VII.
At the time, she claimed she knew white employees who were allowed to reside outside the county while she was not.
According to court documents, a federal judge enforced two settlement agreements in December 2018 between Towers and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Fraternal Order of Police Wyandotte County Lodge No. 40.
In the agreement with the sheriff’s office, the Unified Government offered to let Towers resign instead of being terminated if she dismissed her lawsuit with prejudice.
In 2018, federal Judge Julie A. Robinson held that Towers’ email agreements with the county and FOP were enforceable under Kansas law.
Robinson rejected Towers’ arguments that the settlements were invalid due to mutual mistake or missing formal signatures. The court also found no evidence of fraud or bad faith by either defendant, according to court records.
Judge grants motions to dismiss
In Towers’ wide-ranging suit against more than 80 defendants claiming election fraud, the court granted dismissal motions from the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas, the Kansas Department for Children and Families, Kansas City Kansas Community College, several churches and other defendants.
Robinson said in an Aug. 29 order that Towers’ amended complaint failed to state claims of the defendants’ conduct and that many of her claims relied on criminal statutes that do not allow private lawsuits.
Towers also failed to properly serve the defendants a summons and her amended complaint in accordance with state law, according to the court order.
One of the defendants in the case, Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, was properly served and failed to respond, according to court records. Attorneys representing Schwab asked the court for more time to file a motion to dismiss, court records show.
On Oct. 2, Robinson issued an order to show cause, requiring Towers to show good cause in writing by Oct. 17 why defendants, other than Schwab, should not be dismissed after she failed to serve the summons and an amended complaint within 90 days.
“The Court explained that it has already afforded (Towers) two chances to properly serve Defendants,” the court order said. “Both this Court and Magistrate Judge Mitchell have set out the rules and standards that (Towers) must follow to serve Defendants, and she has still failed to do so.”
“Having already given (Towers) a second chance to properly serve the many Defendants she named in this lawsuit, the Court exercised its discretion to dismiss rather than provide her with a third chance to serve the amended complaint filed more than one year ago,” the order said.
“(Towers) is now ordered to show good cause in writing by no later than October 17, 2025, why the remaining Defendants other than Schwab should not be dismissed for failure to serve the summons and Amended Complaint within the 90 days, as required by (federal law).”
On Oct. 23, court records show Towers asked the court for more time to file a response to Robinson’s order to show cause.
This story was originally published October 31, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
