Former Bella Vista police officer seeking return of certification

BENTONVILLE — A former Bella Vista police officer is appealing the loss of his law enforcement certification.

Michael Kugler filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Benton County Circuit Court against the Arkansas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training to have his certification reinstated.

The commission decertified Kugler last month. His lawsuit asks the court to reverse the commission’s decision. The suit claims the commission’s decision wasn’t supported by substantial evidence.

Certification is needed to be a sworn law enforcement officer in Arkansas.

Kugler was the evidence custodian for the Bella Vista Police Department, according to court documents.

The Arkansas State Crime Laboratory notified Bella Vista police in December 2017 the lab found discrepancies in drug evidence submitted to the lab for testing, according to documents from the commission.

Bella Vista police opened an internal investigation and did an audit of the evidence room, according to a document from the commission. The audit found numerous discrepancies including missing prescription narcotics and items replaced with other substances, according to a document from the commission.

Kugler denied any involvement with the missing evidence, but acknowledged he noticed discrepancies concerning reports from the crime lab, cut open drug take back boxes and evidence bags in the garbage, according to a document from the commission.

He was fired from the department after the issues with the evidence room were discovered. He was never charged in connection with missing evidence.

His lawsuit is assigned to Benton County Circuit Judge Doug Schrantz.

Clayton Roberts, another officer in the department, was fired from the department and arrested in connection with stealing pain killers from the evidence room. Roberts pleaded guilty in October 2018 to tampering with physical evidence.

Roberts admitted he was responsible for switching the pills out of the evidence packages, according to a probable cause affidavit. He said he started stealing the pills because he had an addiction, according to the affidavit.

Roberts was placed on six years of state supervised probation and sentenced to 60 days in the Benton County Jail.