Former Officer Kyle Zumbrunn Going to Prison

A former Weston, Mo., police officer will go to prison for selling drugs in Atchison.

With his attorney, J. David Farris, beside him, Kyle Zumbrunn appeared in court Monday for sentencing before District Judge Martin Asher. Mr. Farris had two rows of witnesses sitting in the courtroom ready to testify on behalf of his client.

On Sept. 22, Mr. Zumbrunn sold 80 pills containing a controlled substance to a Kansas Bureau of Investigation undercover agent at the Wal-Mart parking lot in Atchison. Mr. Zumbrunn pleaded guilty.

Sgt. Kerry Stone, a detective with the Atchison Police Department, testified that Mr. Zumbrunn, 26, is serving his punishment every day and said he believed that probation was appropriate.

Mr. Farris told the judge that others would testify to the same thing.

The KBI agent involved in the case told Gerald Kuckelman, Atchison County attorney, that the drug deal was a fluke and Mr. Zumbrunn didn’t even know the drugs’ street value.

Mr. Kuckelman said Mr. Zumbrunn was no risk to the community and agreed with the defense’s probation recommendation.

The defendant spoke briefly before sentencing, saying he didn’t really know why he tried to sell the pills but took responsibility for his actions.

Mr. Asher had other thoughts. The judge told the packed courtroom that this was the most difficult sentencing decision he’d had to make. The defendant lost his job, his career and put shame on himself, Mr. Asher said.

“And your actions show a complete disregard for community safety,” he said.

The crime wasn’t an impulse, but something you thought about, Mr. Asher said.

“The court struggles with the fact that you were a law enforcement officer and can’t overlook that,” he said. “The appearance of justice has to apply equally ... It can’t be a two-tiered system.”

Mr. Zumbrunn will serve 15 months in state prison on the charge of distribution of a controlled substance and eight months concurrently on a second charge of illegal use of a telephone.

The pronouncement of sentence ended quiet in the courtroom as women started weeping. Atchison County Sheriff John Calhoon took custody of Mr. Zumbrunn and removed him.

Mr. Zumbrunn’s arrest led to Greg Hoffman, Weston’s mayor, asking the Platte County Sheriff’s Department to investigate police procedures for handling evidence. Three detectives are handling that investigation and the Weston Police Department’s evidence locker was seized. No date has been announced for completion of the investigation.