Charges: Carver sheriff's deputy stole drugs from dept.
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A veteran Carver County sheriff's deputy has been charged with removing drugs from the department's evidence room, authorities said Tuesday.
Daniel David Kahlow, 47, was arrested Sunday after showing up to the sheriff's office on an off-day.
Tim O'Malley, superintendent of the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said a surveillance video showed a person entering the evidence room and drug vault on May 9. An audit later found drugs that had been scheduled for destruction were missing.
Investigators linked the incident to Kahlow after his car matched the one seen on May 9. Kahlow was also one of four people in the sheriff's department who had access to the evidence room and drug vault.
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"This is a story of one person with a high level of authorization and access who discretely fed a drug habit," Carver County Sheriff Bud Olson said.
O'Malley said there was no evidence so far that Kahlow took drugs from cases that were still active. But the BCA is helping the sheriff's department inventory all the drugs in the evidence room.
Olson also said the department has changed its security procedures and that only two people have access to the drug vault now.
The methamphetamine investigators found on Kahlow the day of his arrest had been among the drugs scheduled to be destroyed, O'Malley said. He said Kahlow also admitted to investigators that he used meth, a highly addictive stimulant.
Olson said Kahlow started his law enforcement career in 1989 for the Le Sueur County Sheriff's Office. He has been with Carver County for 18 years and is an expert on latent fingerprinting, Olson said.
"He was able to show us that he has a lot of talent," Olson said during a news conference in Chaska. "We are shocked. We are angered he would betray all of us."
Kahlow has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. He is being held in the Wright County jail, and it wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney.
(MPR reporter Tim Nelson contributed to this report.)