A former King County Sheriff’s deputy has been charged with stealing drugs kept by the department that were supposed to be used for training drug-sniffing dogs.
Kristopher Kizer, 30, currently lives in Arkansas. He was first hired in 2005, and was with the Eastside Narcotics Task Force, which is based out of the Bellevue Police Department, from October 2009 until October 2010. During this time, Kizer allegedly stole thousands of dollars worth of narcotics.
He was charged with possession of a controlled substance, first-degree theft and official misconduct.
During his time with the Task Force, Kizer allegedly obtained more than $43,000 worth of various kinds of drugs including methamphetamine, Ecstasy and crack cocaine that he checked out on two occasions. According to charging documents, Kizer took the first batch of drugs in October 2009 to serve as training aids. A second batch checked out in July from the King County office raised suspicions of law enforcement officials because of the high quantities of narcotics Kizer requested. He said he needed new drugs because the previous batch was getting old. Kizer explained that he needed the high quantity because he wanted to teach the dogs to detect drugs in various conversations.
Charging papers detailed several incidents in which co-workers described Kizer acting strangely. He told others that his wife had recently had a miscarriage, something she later denied. During this time, Kizer’s father was killed by his mother. Kizer’s coworkers noticed further personal issues, and he eventually left the Eastside Narcotics Task Force in October 2010. He took sick leave and vacation for the next two months until it ran out, and he was considered absent without pay.
In January Kizer was encouraged to resign, which he did Feb. 4. He was asked specifically if he had returned all the narcotic training aids, to which he said he had. A check of the K-9 safe revealed that the drugs he took from the county in the summer.
Officials later went to get some more equipment from his home in Milton. He was told that Kizer had left the state and moved to Arkansas. Attempts to contact him following his departure were unsuccessful.
