Third KCKPD Officer Pleads Guilty to Violating Civil Rights

KANSAS CITY, KS—A third Kansas City, Kansas police officer has pleaded guilty to stealing electronics from a house where he served a search warrant, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today.

Jeffrey M. Bell, 34, Kansas City, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy against civil rights. He was charged under 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.

In his plea, Bell admitted stealing a Nintendo DS hand-held game system containing one Nintendo DS game cartridge from a house at 730 Everett in Kansas City, Kan. Bell and other members of the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department’s Selective Crime Occurrence Reduction Enforcement Unit (SCORE Unit) were at the house to serve what they believed was a search warrant. In fact, they were the target of a sting operation. The FBI and the Internal Affairs Unit of the KCKPD were monitoring the house. Investigators placed a total of $2,500 cash, electronic hand held games, a music player, drugs, and a handgun in the house before the SCORE unit arrived.

Bell also admitted taking three or four PlayStation games and one PlayStation player during prior SCORE Unit Search warrants.

Bell is set for sentencing June 5. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000. Co-defendants Darrell M. Forrest and Dustin Sillings pleaded guilty to the same count and are set for sentencing June 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.