WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – A Sedgwick County Sheriff’s detective at the center of a Wichita police investigation is accused of improperly closing cases in the Exploited and Missing Children and Internet Crimes Against Children units.
There is still a lot we don’t know about the investigation and why cases would have been improperly closed. What we do know is that the case is under criminal investigation.
Defense attorney Dan Monnat said that if child abuse cases were not thoroughly investigated and closed properly, evidence such as drug testing, DNA or video footage could be lost, damaged or destroyed.
“The two worst extremes from that are, one, real child predators or child abusers go uncharged and two, innocent people become wrongfully accused,” Dan Monnat said.
The alleged mishandled cases happened between 2019 and 2024. Monnat said that while some of these cases happened more than five years ago, they can be reopened. The detective’s name has not been released.
“Kansas, in fact, has almost no statute of limitations on child sex abuse or child abuse,” Monnat said. “And the ones that it has are so long that actually any of these cases that occurred during that time could be resurrected and reopened.”
Police created a hotline for anyone to come forward who believes the sheriff’s office did not properly investigate their case. Monnat said there may be those out there who have been waiting years for an update.
Monnat added that finding those involved in the cases could be difficult for investigators.
“The witnesses become harder and hard to find, and their memories become harder and harder to rely on,” Monnat said.
The attorney said that because this is a criminal investigation and not simply an internal review, law enforcement may know something that raises suspicion that the cases being closed improperly was more than an accident.
The Sedgwick County detective is on paid administrative leave.
Anyone with questions or concerns about a specific case handled by the Sheriff’s Department between 2019 and 2024 is asked to call (316) 268-4500. You will be asked to provide a case number and your contact information.
See the full story at KWCH.com.