A Kansas sheriff will resign his position after he pleaded guilty to a federal firearm crime, officials said.
Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple, 48, of Ness City, pleaded guilty on Monday to one count of knowingly selling a gun to a person who was prohibited under federal law from possessing a firearm, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said in a release.
Whipple agreed in a plea deal to resign as sheriff and surrender his law enforcement certification from the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training, the release said. Both parties will recommend that Whipple be sentenced to probation.
Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 17.
Whipple admitted in his plea that he arranged to sell a .45 caliber pistol and ammunition to a man he knew was a convicted felon, the release said.
Whipple was arrested by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation in December on suspicion of perjury, making false information, criminal distribution of firearms to a felon and official misconduct. He was arrested again in January after allegedly contacting a person associated with his initial case.
When Whipple was charged in April, prosecutors included three counts of wire fraud. A federal indictment alleged that Whipple faxed reports to KS-CPOST falsely certifying that deputies had received training. The alleged crimes occurred in 2013, 2016 and 2017.
His public defender had argued in court documents filed in August that the wire fraud counts should be dismissed because the victim, KS-CPOST, was not deprived of money or property.
Source: https://www.kansas.com/news/local/crime/article220455180.html