Supervisor behind thefts at Sedgwick County Sheriff’s evidence facility is sentenced
A former Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office employee once entrusted with guarding crime evidence has been sentenced to nine years, 11 months in prison for masterminding a theft and drug-distribution scheme that involved guns, pills, marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine and thousands in seized cash stolen from the law enforcement agency’s south Wichita property and evidence building.
Robert D. White, 55, pleaded guilty on Jan. 12 to a dozen crimes including felony official misconduct, multiple counts of drug distribution and possession, and several counts of misdemeanor and felony theft for actions he took while working as the property and evidence supervisor at 815 W. Stillwell in Wichita.
Authorities have said White and an underling, now ex-property and evidence technician Marc E. Gordon, for months pocketed money and items destined for destruction then concealed the thefts by altering inventory logs. The men kept the items or, in the case of some drugs and guns, passed them along to people who gave them to dealers to sell for profit, court records say.
The men were the building’s only full-time on-site employees in 2019 and early 2020, when investigators say the misconduct occurred. Their responsibilities included handling incoming and outgoing evidence, managing items inside of the building, updating computerized evidence logs and controlling and documenting the flow of people in secure areas.
The scheme unraveled in January 2020 after White lied to a deputy about the whereabouts of cocaine bricks set aside to train police K-9s, an affidavit released by the court says. White and Gordon were fired about a month later.
White must serve three years of post-release supervision after he is released from prison, according to the court. Sedgwick County District Judge Tyler Roush imposed the sentence recommended in White’s plea agreement.
Gordon, the ex-technician, was ordered to serve a year of probation after pleading guilty in April to one count of official misconduct and three counts of theft, all misdemeanors.
