KBI arrests Franklin County sheriff and deputy on obstruction of justice charges / LJWorld.com

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KBI arrests Franklin County sheriff and deputy on obstruction of justice charges

February 27, 2013, 5:47 p.m. Updated February 27, 2013, 8:37 p.m.

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Ottawa — Franklin County Sheriff Jeffry Curry and Deputy Jerrod W. Fredricks were arrested by the KBI on Wednesday on felony charges of interference with a law enforcement officer, though few details about the allegations were immediately available.

At a news conference Wednesday afternoon in Ottawa, County Attorney Stephen Hunting said the charges stemmed from an investigation that was made public last September, though very little has been said about the nature of that probe. He declined to provide details, citing an ongoing investigation. The complaint against Curry is sealed under court order.

The Journal-World filed an open records request last fall with Franklin County for emails sent to and from Curry’s office for a two-week period prior to the KBI search warrants being served in September. That request was denied because the volume of emails during that period placed “an unreasonable burden on the county to produce.”

In addition to the obstruction charge, Curry also faces a charge of official misconduct, a misdemeanor.

Curry and Fredricks were booked Wednesday into the Wyandotte County Jail in Kansas City, Kan. Curry will remain the sheriff of Franklin County unless he resigns or is removed by an ouster process that usually takes about two months, Hunting said.

“Until he is ousted from office, he remains the sheriff,” he said.

Curry was released Wednesday on a $3,000 bond. Fredricks was released on a $1,500 bond. Both men are scheduled to appear in court March 6.

The Franklin County Sheriff's office confirmed in September that it was the subject of an investigation by the KBI. Fredricks said at the time that the office was "cooperating fully with the investigation," but no other details had come out until today's arrest. Curry was appointed sheriff in 2010 and reelected in November.

Hunting said the charges were filed in Franklin County District Court, and the Shawnee County District Attorney’s Office will act as a special prosecutor in the case at Hunting's request.

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Dusty 1 year, 11 months ago

Interesting. Anyone know what the case made public in September was?

Darrell Lea 1 year, 11 months ago

Dusty - Click on the word "investigation" in paragraph two of this story to find out.

parrothead8 1 year, 11 months ago

You didn't actually do that yourself before making that comment. You know how I know that? Because the linked story doesn't provide any details, either.

kernal 1 year, 11 months ago

No one said it does, parrothead.

kernal 1 year, 11 months ago

Dusty, click on the words highlighted in blue in the body of the story. That will take you to the previous stories.

Jayhawker07 1 year, 11 months ago

I think it might have something to do with the drug bust that happened. Not sure though.

Jayhawker07 1 year, 11 months ago

Hey Bob, I think you have a story title!

kusp8 1 year, 11 months ago

FYI, if you're reading this on a phone you can't tell where links are in the stories.

Dec84 1 year, 11 months ago

@inmate... good one.

Kent Noble 1 year, 11 months ago

It just goes to show you can't trust Sheriffs or dupties. There are a lot of innocent people out there who get arrested on a regular basis. Once they pull you over your going to jail or get a ticket. There is no in between anymore are whole system is corrupt. It's a fact Cops Lie. who is the judge going to believe, your story or the police officers story. It's all about the money, hell just look at these high dollar vehicles the officers ride around in. Every year you get that phone call wanting you to donate money to the Kansas State Highway Patrol to protect the officers safety. What about the innocent people who get arrested because some police officer wanted to take them to jail to score brownie points. We don't get money donated to us to help pay our court fees and all the other fines they tac on to your arrest along with your Attourney fees. Are system sucks it's corrupt big time!!!!

notajayhawk 1 year, 11 months ago

I suppose this would be a bad time to point out the sheriff and deputy were themselves arrested by Kansas law enforcement officers that presumably are part of this same "corrupt" system of which you speak ...

Greg Cooper 1 year, 11 months ago

Oh, really? I wasn't aware that there were different laws covering police officers and KBI officers. Can you tell us what those differences might be? This is an interesting tidbit, and I'm really interested.

Bob Forer 1 year, 11 months ago

No doubt there is corruption in our system. But to state that one incident indicates the whole system is corrupt is downright ignorant.

Kent Noble 1 year, 11 months ago

PS. Stay out of Eudora, KS those cops down there are really bad. Eudora averages more DUI'S in one year than Lawrence does. Lawrence has the University of Kansas who on average has over 30,000 college students not counting the population of Lawrence and we have more DUI arrest than the City of Lawrence. You talk about corrupt, Come On!!! Make sure all your lights and blinkers work and come to complete stops even on side streets. They like to hide and use those acusses everytime, especially after 11pm. Be careful when coming to Eudora.

08Champs 1 year, 11 months ago

777

I'll give you the 4 seconds you're due if your provide any actual facts/numbers to support your accusations. How many DUI arrests were performed, on average, in each of the two cities over the last 5 years? Do that, and I won't even comment on your spelling/grammar. Deal? And if you could tell me the make & model of your vehicle, so that if I drive into Eudora I can avoid your car, since it sounds like it's a wreck and you'd potentially be drunk....

LegendaryBeast 1 year, 11 months ago

Are you saying that cops in Eudora arrest or ticket people for driving under the influence, having lights & blinkers that don't work or running stop signs and that the cops are corrupt because of this? I take it you got arrested for a DUI and you want to blame "corrupt" cops for it.

Bigdog66046 1 year, 11 months ago

so you are saying you must follow the law? Having working lights and stopping at all stop signs (including side streets) is a law, not a suggestion. Glad to hear Eudora PD has time to enforce all laws. Unlike Lawrence police who has to high of call volume to have officers tied up doing all the paperwork.

msezdsit 1 year, 11 months ago

Dogs eat dogs. I would be elated if the KBI arrested brownback. Then they would be doing some good. This however seems like it could just be the guys with a bigger hammer being upset with the guys with a smaller hammer. Different branches of law enforcement never seem to be able to behave with one another. Bigger hammer usually wins.

ATR920 1 year, 11 months ago

He was the subject of an investigation and still won his re-election?

jhawkinsf 1 year, 11 months ago

So did Jesse Jackson, Jr. It happens all the time.

rcr 1 year, 11 months ago

The previous story stated he was running unopposed. So unless there was a big write in campaign it would have been hard for him not to win.

hipper_than_hip 1 year, 11 months ago

Why are they wearing shemagh's in the pics?

billbodiggens 1 year, 11 months ago

I suspect the two were arrested when they were both wearing their uniforms. And cops taking the picture still being cops, did not want to “disgrace the uniform” with a mug shot. Go figure.

Ben Lockwood 1 year, 11 months ago

Worst Image for a story ever. Two people's faces superimposed on a building background look like dumb.

Matthew Del Vecchio 1 year, 11 months ago

yep

trinity 1 year, 11 months ago

ATR920-there are some very very gullible voters in FrCo. The "winning smile" and lines of bull shirt garnered the votes...not to mention the idea of gasp CHANGE??? There was another candidate who has by far more integrity AND experience, just don't understand why the voters were buffaloed by this phoney baloney and did not elect a known, very good man to the post.

domino 1 year, 11 months ago

Sounds like some of our other elections!!

notajayhawk 1 year, 11 months ago

"there are some very very gullible voters in FrCo"

Considering the results of the last presidential election, there are plenty of them in Douglas County, too.

notajayhawk 1 year, 11 months ago

Which wouldn't exactly dispute the gullibility of the Democrats/liberals that elected him, now would it?

notajayhawk 1 year, 11 months ago

Well, that and the fact that he's an incompetent liar and coward that stuffing the country down the toilet. There's that, too.

thebigspoon 1 year, 11 months ago

Sounds like a witch hunt....

Fred Whitehead Jr. 1 year, 11 months ago

If this were a regular citizen, the "details" would be readily available and plastered all over this newsrag and others.

Law officers seem to get a pass when they get in trouble. And usually manage to beat the rap.

domino 1 year, 11 months ago

There are corrupt people in law enforcement, just as there are in every other place in society. There are also many, many good people in every place in society. Lucky777 ~ you sound like you have had some bad experiences with law enforcement ~ could it be that you were one of those who continually whine about being harrassed by law enforcement ~ that it was never your fault ~ that they were just picking on you? The list goes on and on. In my experience, the ones who have the most problem with law enforcement are the ones who most often break the law. I don't know what these 2 officers have or have not done, but if they are guilty, I hope they are punished to the full extent of the law, just as I would hope anyone else was.

As far as judges believing a cop over a suspected criminal, I don't buy that. I know of a judge that was convicted of a DUI before he was appointed to his judicial position and after his appointment, has dropped every DUI case he could - including cases of 3rd and 4th time DUI's - one of which ended up killing someone else when again driving drunk. This same judge has lied to people, yet continues to serve as judge. What is wrong with that picture?

Same thing goes - there are good judges and bad judges. Just hope that the truth is completely uncovered - whatever the outcome.

meggers 1 year, 11 months ago

The people of Franklin County deserve more information about what is being alleged. It would also be helpful to know how the "ouster" process works. If it is something that needs to be initiated by voters, the public should have information about not just the allegations, but also the process for pursuing a recall.

Releasing two weeks of emails is not an "unreasonable burden" by any stretch of the imagination. Unless those emails contain information that is incriminating, of course. I hope the LJW keeps pushing for information. This is most definitely in the public's interest, especially considering the fact that Curry is still serving as sheriff.

Richard Payton 1 year, 11 months ago

State secrets might be the reason the information is hard to obtain. Would the State of Kansas possibly have sealed these records for the protection of the public or those individuals that investigated this case.?

ottawaway 1 year, 11 months ago

Trust me Meggers, a lot of us from Franklin co. have a very good idea of what's going on. And after seeing the witness names on the complaint only confirms it. We've known a while now thru some pretty good sources & from some things we have seen. There is a couple names on that complaint if you search you can get a little bit more understanding of some of the things that's going on in corrupt Franklin co. I'll give ya a hint, they are both females.