Former KCKPD Officer Sentenced to Prison for Violating Civil Rights Law

KANSAS CITY, KS—A former officer for the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department has been sentenced to federal prison for stealing electronics from houses where his team served search warrants, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today.

Darrell M. Forrest, 32, Kansas City, Kan., was sentenced to 12 months and a day, followed by a year of supervised release.

Forrest pleaded guilty to violating a federal civil rights statute that makes it a crime for police officers acting under color of law to deny or conspire to deny anyone’s civil rights.

Forrest was a member of the KCKPD’s Selective Crime Occurrence Reduction Enforcement Unit (SCORE Unit), which was a special weapons and tactics unit assigned to serve search warrants. In January 2011, investigators for the KCKPD and the FBI set up a sting operation in which the SCORE Unit was sent to a house that was being monitored. Investigators placed cash, electronic games and other items in the house before the SCORE unit arrived.

In his plea, Forrest admitted stealing $300 cash, two video game cartridges and an Apple iPod Touch from the house. Forrest also stole a digital camcorder on July 7, 2010, during the execution of a search warrant from a residence in Kansas City, Kan.

Co-defendants are Jeffrey M. Bell, 34, Kansas City, Kan., who is set for sentencing July 3, and Dustin Sillings, 34, Kansas City, Kan., who is set for sentencing July 5.

U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom commended the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department, the FBI and the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office for their work on the case. Grissom and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tris Hunt prosecuted the case.