Former Kansas officer loses license after being accused of shoplifting in Oklahoma

Eduardo Castillo
·2 min read

A former southeast Kansas police officer was stripped of his law enforcement certification after pleading no contest to shoplifting merchandise from a Walmart in Oklahoma.

Christopher Corbit worked off and on for the Galena Police Department from February 2001 to November 2022, according to a summary order of revocation from the Kansas Commission Peace Officers’ Standards and Training, also known as KS-CPOST.

In October 2018, Corbit was named the school resource officer for the Galena School district, according to a social media post from the Galena Kansas Police Department.

Attempts to reach a phone number associated with Corbit were unsuccessful. He also did not respond to a social media message seeking comment.

The summary order of revocation gave this account:

A Walmart loss prevention employee documented instances of Corbit shoplifting at a store in Miami, Oklahoma. The employee documented eight shoplifting incidents between September and November 2022 that amounted to a loss of $543.09.

The summary order described Corbit stacking items on the self-checkout machine so that only one item would scan, covering bar codes with his hand so they would not be scanned and holding items in his arm to hand to his wife or place them directly into a bag without scanning them.

Corbit was criminally charged in municipal court in Miami, Oklahoma with eight counts of larceny by shoplifting. He entered a no contest plea on three counts, received a suspended sentence on four counts and had one count dismissed after paying court costs.

Corbit was placed on administrative leave on Nov. 21, 2022 and fired from the Galena Police Department the next day, TV station KSN 16 reported.

The KS-CPOST commission repeatedly attempted to contact Corbit for an in-person interview to determine if he was still eligible to be a law enforcement officer. The commission did not hear back from Corbit and he did not show up for the interview.

Galena is 181 miles southeast of Wichita in Cherokee County.