Pubdate: Fri, 07 Apr 2000 Source: Tulsa World (OK) Copyright: 2000 World Publishing Co. Contact: P.O. Box 1770, Tulsa, OK 74102 Website: http://www.tulsaworld.com/ Author: Rhett Morgan TWO KIEFER OFFICERS ARE CHARGED Police Chief, Aide Resign Amid Drug Allegations SAPULPA -- The Kiefer police chief and his assistant have resigned amid allegations that they snorted methamphetamine they had removed from two police property rooms. Creek County prosecutors on Thursday filed two counts of embezzlement by a police officer against former Police Chief David B. Little, 30, and one count of embezzlement by a police officer against his ex-assistant chief, David Palmerchuk, 33. Arrest warrants were issued for the pair Thursday, and their bail will be set at $5,000 on each count, Chief Criminal Prosecutor Don Nelson said. Creek County Sheriff Larry Fugate said Little, who reportedly is in Arkansas with his family, is scheduled to turn himself in Friday afternoon. Palmerchuk has agreed to surrender to authorities at 9 a.m. Friday, the sheriff said. If convicted, each officer faces a maximum of two years in prison and as much as a $1,000 fine on each count, Assistant District Attorney Pamela Hammers said. "It makes me sick," Fugate said. "These guys are elected to do the opposite. They are supposed to be getting it off the street, yet here they are using it." Hammers, who said it was one of the "stranger" cases to come across her desk, added, "I probably wouldn't believe it unless they had admitted to it or partially admitted to it." Between Jan. 1 and March 30, the charges claim, each of the two Kiefer officers appropriated controlled drugs that came into his possession by virtue of his employment and used them for "a purpose not in due and lawful execution of his office." A second count against Little alleges that he did the same from Oct. 1 through Nov. 30 while acing as a police officer in Mounds. The Creek County Sheriff's Office has been taking all police calls relating to Kiefer since Wednesday night, Fugate said. Kiefer Mayor Donnie Ashford said the town's Board of Trustees decided Wednesday night to suspend Little with pay pending further investigation. "Little did we know that David Little had resigned," he said. The Creek County Sheriff's Office gave the mayor Little's letter of resignation on Thursday morning, Ashford said. Palmerchuk had resigned March 28, he said. "We knew that we would be without police officers," Ashford said, "so we brought in a reserve officer and made him acting officer over the rest of the reserves." The city may be able to hire a new officer in a month or so, he said. In the meantime, the Police Department's property room is sealed off until the new officer is in place, Ashford said. "Anything that is confiscated through stops or arrests will go to the Creek County property room." Ashford said Little and Palmerchuk had been "kind of at odds with each other" during their employment. "There were some accusations made in a conversation we had with them that one had made and then the other had made that were blown out of proportion. We decided to let the Creek County Sheriff's Department do an investigation of our Police Department. "First we had an allegation toward the other officer (Palmerchuk), so we decided to go ahead and let the Creek County Sheriff's Department handle that," Ashford said. Then Sheriff Fugate decided to investigate the whole department, and "I'm proud that he did that," Ashford said. "When things are brought up about your Police Department, you want to make sure everything's covered," he said. "You want to make sure things are back to squeaky clean when something's been brought up." Fugate said that "nothing surprises me anymore," adding that Little's mother and brother are former Kiefer police officers. "When it comes to meth, it is in all walks of life. Attorneys do it. Doctors do it. You can't name a profession that it's not in." According to an affidavit, Little initiated the investigation by the Sheriff's Office himself when he called Creek County Chief Criminal Deputy Ed Willingham on March 28 in reference to narcotics that were missing from Kiefer's police property room. Little reportedly said he had been contacted by part-time Kiefer dispatcher Gary King. Palmerchuk had summoned King to the Police Department late one night about a month ago, court documents allege. There, King said he saw Palmerchuk standing over a desk on which were two lines of a white powder substance "consistent with methamphetamine." Palmerchuk "sucked the white powder through the straw and into his nose," the affidavit claims. When King started to leave the room, Palmerchuk allegedly told him to "get over here and do a line." King claims in the affidavit that he knew the substance was methamphetamine because King had used the drug in the past. Later, Palmerchuk obtained keys from Little's office, went into the property-evidence room and removed about eight small bags of white powder substance, records allege. At Willingham's request, Little reportedly did an inventory of the evidence room and told the deputy that a few bags of the drug and a gun were missing. King passed a polygraph test given to him by authorities, Fugate said. Little failed his, but upon being re-interviewed on Wednesday, Little admitted having snorted a bag of methamphetamine that he had taken from the Kiefer property room around January, the affidavit shows. On another occasion in February, Little went into the same property room with the intention of getting more of the drug for his own use, records indicate. Little went on to tell authorities that while he was a police officer in Mounds -- around October or November -- he took several small bags of meth from individuals on vehicle stops and from the Mounds Police Department property locker, the affidavit claims. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake