A former officer of the Johnson County Sherriff’s office in Kansas has had his police license revoked after he was caught trying to short-change a store out of nearly $400 worth of Pokémon cards.
As this disciplinary filing (via The Kansas City Star) states, the man—identified as William Knight—had been serving as a “full-time law enforcement officer” with the Sherriff’s Office since March 2019. In May this year, while in uniform, he was “shopping in a retail store” when he “aroused the suspicions of an Asset Protection Investigator.”
Turns out Knight had been caught taking “several barcodes off inexpensive items he had at home,” had stuck them on the back of 12 whole boxes of Pokémon cards, and thought he could get away with buying them at a greatly reduced price.
The cashier instantly noticed something was up, though, and after alerting the “Asset Protection Investigator,” Knight pretended that he had just received a call, and had to immediately leave the store. He was quickly identified, however, and later had to admit that he had indeed tried to scam them, which resulted in his being criminally charged with one count of “unlawful acts involved in theft detection.”
While Knight escaped a criminal case, his actions were also brought before the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training, the government body overseeing the appointment of cops in the state. They determined that because Knight “lacks the personal qualities of integrity” required, he was unfit to continue serving, and so last month revoked his license to serve as an officer. Knight had already left his role at the Johnson County Sherriff’s office three days after the incident, so this wasn’t a firing, more of a prevention of him getting police work elsewhere in the State.
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“Unfortunately, in a time of severe stress and anxiety, he exercised poor judgment, leading to this arrest and charge,” Knight’s lawyer said in a statement sent to The Kansas City Star. “Despite his discharge from the JCSO, Mr. Knight is gainfully employed, supporting his family and trying to make amends to the victim, his community and his family through the DA’s diversion program.”
