photo by: Tonganoxie Police Department

A Tonganoxie Police patrol vehicle is pictured in 2020.

A Tonganoxie police officer lost his certification to be a law enforcement officer in Kansas after an investigation found that he faked traffic stops to give away donated gift cards to his friends.

A local radio station donated gift cards to the Tonganoxie Police Department, which the department used for a holiday promotion in December 2023 in which officers could give warnings to drivers in lieu of tickets and also a gift card, according to a report from the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training, commonly known as CPOST. The program was voluntary and officers were not required to participate.

Officer Anthony Reyes had initially declined to participate in the department’s holiday program but later requested three gift cards. Officers were required to record their traffic stops where the gift cards were distributed for auditing purposes, the report said.

When Reyes’ body camera footage of one of his gift card interactions was reviewed, Reyes was at a convenience store that Reyes is known to frequent. In the video Reyes is seen talking to a woman who works at the store who is known to be a friend of his, according to the report.

The woman was not in her vehicle, and Reyes did not activate his lights or sirens, the report says. Instead, Reyes pointed to the woman’s vehicle, directing her to get in it, but the woman told him that her keys and driver’s license were inside the convenience store.

A coworker of the woman’s was present and told to Reyes “you could have at least turned the lights on.” Reyes responded by putting his finger over his mouth to silence the woman, according to the report.

After reviewing Reyes’ other two gift card traffic stops, investigators found that they were also employees of the same convenience store and were Reyes’ friends.

When confronted by a state investigator about the allegations in August of 2024, Reyes told the investigator that the Tonganoxie police chief had ordered him to give the gift cards away, according to the report, which indicated that the chief gave no such instruction.

The report did not indicate how much the gift cards were worth.

The report said that Reyes was decertified on Jan. 15 for unprofessional conduct for initiating traffic stops to give the gift cards to his friends; for lying to an investigator about the police chief ordering him to give the cards away; and for failing to maintain good moral character sufficient to warrant the public trust in him as a law enforcement officer.