In the News

Police Captain Found Not Guilty

By Ron Sylvester
The Wichita Eagle
February 4, 2005

Wichita police Capt. Gary Tabor is not guilty of ordering false entries on city payroll records.

A Sedgwick County District Court jury returned that verdict Thursday after about two hours of deliberations.

Tabor, however, still faces an internal police probe over his approval for two officers to take off work to help put up wallboard in the basement of his house.

"I think it's pretty clear that what Captain Tabor did was contrary to police policy,'' Steve Joseph, Tabor's lawyer, said after the verdict. "But it wasn't a crime."

To convict Tabor of a crime, the jury needed to find that the captain purposely wanted to deceive the city when he approved the time off for the two officers on Oct. 26, 2002.

Tabor maintained throughout the case that he thought the two officers would take vacation or otherwise make up the time for their missed shift. The officers never did.

"Intent is the question in this case," Joseph told the jury in his closing arguments.

Tabor, 46, has been on unpaid leave since the district attorney charged him this past August, which he said became "hell for me and my family."

"I'm proud to serve the community, and the community can be proud of me," said Tabor, a 25-year veteran of the force. "I did nothing wrong."

Because the payroll sheet showed the officers as working, they received $270.22 in combined salary that day.

Tabor didn't hear about the incident again until he began fielding question s from his commanding officers last summer.

Deputy Chief Tom Stolz heard of the allegation during a hearing in Topeka over a sexual harassment complaint by another of Tabor's officers at Patrol East.

"The chief of police brought the case to the district attorney," said Assistant District Attorney Aaron Smith, who prosecuted the case. "It's our job to take the case to a jury. We did that. They made a decision, and we respect that verdict."

Smith and Kim Parker, chief deputy district attorney, didn't hold back in their prosecution of Tabor. Smith pressed Tabor on cross examination during his testimony Wednesday. Parker delivered a stirring closing Thursday morning.

"This is about a matter of public trust," Parker told the jury.

"He says, 'I want to take credit for all the good things that happened under my command,' but not this. . . . They're asking you to look the other way."

Joseph put on more than a dozen character witnesses attesting to Tabor's valor on the force and the trust he'd earned from colleagues.

There was some obvious discomfort among police, who usually work closely with prosecutors in the criminal justice system. In this trial, however, officers from beat patrol to the police chief took the witness stand and voiced support for Tabor and criticism of his actions.

But Joseph said such trials only strengthen trust in police and courts.

"There are some matters that need to be decided out in the public view," Joseph said, "and not behind some closed door at City Hall."

Reach Ron Sylvester at 268-6514 or rsylvester@wichitaeagle.com.