photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Former Douglas County Sheriff's Deputy Donn Dunkle is pictured in 2015.

A Douglas County sheriff’s deputy has lost his certification to be a law enforcement officer after he was caught on camera stealing a can of soda and a bag of chips from the concession stand at an area school while doing a security check.

The deputy, Donn Dunkle, had been with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office for nearly 16 years when on Feb. 1, 2024, he was doing a building check at a school gymnasium in Douglas County, according to his decertification report from the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training.

Dunkle went into the gymnasium after finding the door unlocked, and while inside he took a can of soda and a bag of chips from the concession area before leaving. Dunkle did not activate his body camera during the incident and did not report the property check in his daily log, according to the report. The name of the school is not mentioned in the report and the school declined to press criminal charges.

Sheriff Jay Armbrister told the Journal-World in an email Wednesday that the school where the incident occurred notified the sheriff’s office shortly after it happened on Feb. 1 and provided video evidence of the theft. Armbrister said that Dunkle was immediately placed on leave pending an investigation.

The investigation was concluded by Feb. 6, when Dunkle was fired from the office, and the District Attorney’s Office was notified on Feb. 8 in case Dunkle was involved in any pending criminal cases in which he would need to testify. Armbrister said he took “swift and severe” action to remove Dunkle from his employment.

“Actions like these can deeply affect our level of trust with the community, especially when a deputy is supposed to be watching over things in the middle of the night. This is a trust that many people in this agency and in law enforcement work to build and foster every day,” Armbrister said.

Dunkle formally lost his certification in Kansas on the grounds of criminal conduct that would have constituted a misdemeanor, and for lack of good moral character by violating the public’s trust.