Kansas revokes former police officer’s certification after accused of having sex with victim

A former Gardner police officer was stripped of his law enforcement certification this month after investigators concluded he had an inappropriate relationship with a victim in a domestic violence case he investigated and then lied about it to his superiors.

Christopher White was accused of having sex with a woman who had reported domestic abuse to the Gardner police while he was involved in that investigation. Investigators found he lied about the content of hundreds of text messages the pair exchanged, state records show.

White left the Gardner Police Department in June and continued corresponding with the woman even after he left the force following an investigation into the incident, according to the findings of the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training released last week.

The commission found White’s conduct was unbecoming of an officer and his attempts to conceal his contacts with the victim showed “he lacks the personal qualities of integrity, honesty” required to be a police officer. The commission issued an order revoking his certification as a law enforcement officer effective Jan. 19.

White, who served in the department for 18 months, did not file a request for a hearing to contest the decision after the commission made three attempts to serve him with its findings. Attempts by The Star to reach White were unsuccessful.

It was not immediately clear whether White was fired from the force amid the investigation or resigned, but his last day of service with the department was June 25, records show. Gardner police officials declined to release any information about the case, calling it a “personnel matter.”

White’s misconduct began in March 2021 when a victim, who accused her husband of domestic battery, met with White at the Gardner Justice Center to report that she believed her husband had hidden a GPS tracking device on her car, according to the commission’s report. The woman’s identity is withheld from the report and she is referred to only by her initials.

White sent the woman more than 150 text messages over the next six days that included him asking the woman to take a “sexy” picture and “indications of contact” between the two at her home, according to the report. She told investigators she initially believed White was concerned for her well-being but that the messages escalated quickly and he showed up to her home uninvited more than once.

She told investigators White came into her home on one occasion and they had sex for several minutes, according to the report. After that, “the texting cooled off” and she worried she had been manipulated by White, she said.

“I’m sure [the GPD supervisors] wouldn’t like our text conversations either lol,” White wrote in one message on March 5, 2021. “Let’s keep this between us. I don’t want to hurt your case.”

The woman moved out of state due to her continued domestic issues and, as part of her therapy, contacted the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office to report White’s misconduct in her domestic case, the commission found.

White initially denied meeting the woman anywhere by the justice center or using his personal cell phone to communicate with her during an interview with sheriff’s deputies investigating the issue, according to the commission’s report. When confronted with specific messages he had sent the woman, he insinuated she had manufactured the texts before ultimately admitting he had texted her and visited the outside of her home.

He maintained to both sheriff’s deputies and during an internal Gardner police review that he never entered the woman’s home nor had any sexual encounters with her, but investigators found his explanations “wholly inconsistent with the content of the messages,” the report found.

“I thought about it last night and I think we should be careful,” White wrote in another message sent to the woman on March 8, 2021. “If someone found out it would definitely effect (sic) your court case.”

“It would look like I am favoring your side of the on going (sic) case,” he wrote.

White did admit to carrying on a “social relationship” with the woman after meeting her in his official capacity as a police officer and the commission’s report noted he continued to send her dozens of text messages through the end of August.

White left the department on June 25 and the investigation was referred to the Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training, which manages law enforcement certifications across the state and revokes officers’ credentials if it finds they violated those standards. Court records indicate White was not charged with a crime in connection with his behavior but the commission found he did not meet its standards for good moral character or professional conduct.

“Respondent used his position to establish his relationship with the victim in a criminal case,” the report concluded. “Respondent was untruthful with the criminal investigation into his conduct with the victim. Additionally, respondent’s statements and the inconsistencies with his text messages raise questions as to his honesty.”