A 29-year veteran of the Wichita Police Department was charged with eight counts of felony computer crimes on Friday, one day after he retired.
Ex-Capt. Wendell Nicholson, who formerly oversaw the traffic division, was charged Friday. He was not arrested but is under a court order to appear in court in April.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said all counts involve sharing confidential “intel” information with two or three people outside of law enforcement who are not suspected to be involved in any of the cases.
“No criminal cases were ever compromised,” Bennett said.
The criminal complaint claims Nicholson knowingly “damaged, modified, altered, destroyed, copied, disclosed or took possession of a computer, computer system, computer network or other property,” including Drug Enforcement Agency daily briefing reports, WPD gang bulletins, internal department morning reports, WPD shooting reviews, WPD emails, body camera videos, an WPD information bulletin and a WPD professional standards bureau document.
Former interim Chief Lem Moore pulled Nicholson off his assignment as the department’s liaison to the Citizens Review Board after the board issued a scathing report on the department’s handling of a text messaging scandal.