A police department inventory eventually uncovered missing rifles, shotguns and evidence room firearms. The inventory also revealed missing cash. The discovery triggered a Texas Rangers investigation and ended with a former Crandall police chief being sent to prison.
Billy Wayne Kilgore served as Crandall’s police chief in 2016. He was arrested in May 2018 after investigators accused him of taking department owned firearms and weapons held as evidence.
Nearly two years later, Kilgore pleaded guilty in two firearm theft cases. A Kaufman County judge sentenced him on April 30, 2020. He received five years in prison, a $1,000 fine and court costs.
The case closed one of the more serious public corruption episodes in Crandall’s recent history.
Kilgore Rose Quickly Through Department
Kilgore joined the Crandall Police Department in December 2014. After a leadership change in 2015, he was appointed interim chief. The Crandall City Council made the appointment permanent in January 2016.
His tenure as chief was brief. Kilgore submitted his resignation in July 2016, less than seven months after formally taking over the department. The larger story emerged later, when an inventory and inspection of the department’s gun safe and evidence room revealed that weapons were missing.
Inventory Uncovered Missing Firearms
An arrest warrant affidavit later obtained by inForney.com detailed the findings. Investigators discovered that two department owned AR-15 rifles and two shotguns were missing. Firearms stored in the evidence room were missing as well.
The affidavit alleged that some of the weapons had been pawned at pawn shops in the Kaufman area. Investigators later recovered a department owned Bushmaster AR-15 and Remington 870 shotgun, along with a Smith & Wesson Model 36 revolver and a .38 caliber Derringer that had been held as evidence.
The affidavit alleged that other weapons had also been removed or pawned. Because those details originated in an arrest affidavit, they were allegations at the time and should be distinguished from the charges that ultimately resulted in guilty pleas.
Missing Cash and Evidence Records
The investigation expanded beyond firearms. According to the arrest affidavit, $3,533 in cash was missing from the evidence room. Investigators said the money had been seized in a drug case.
Kilgore told investigators the money had been returned to the girlfriend of the person from whom it had been seized. The woman reportedly told investigators she received $2,500. The affidavit stated that $1,033 remained unaccounted for.
Investigators also discovered that the department’s evidence vault log book was missing. That record was important because it documented the chain of custody for evidence entering and leaving the department.
The affidavit alleged that the log book had been removed, concealed or destroyed in an effort to prevent discovery of improper activity involving evidence. Available reporting also indicated that the missing records and recovered firearms did not jeopardize active prosecutions at the time.
Texas Rangers Took Over Investigation
The criminal investigation was turned over to the Texas Rangers. Kilgore was arrested May 19, 2018.
He initially faced two counts of theft of a firearm by a public servant and a charge of tampering or fabricating physical evidence with intent to impair. He later posted bond and was released while the criminal case moved through the Kaufman County court system.
Kilgore Pleaded Guilty
The case did not end with the arrest. Kilgore entered guilty pleas in two firearm theft cases on Feb. 18, 2020. The pleas were entered before Judge Casey Blair of the 86th District Court.
Kilgore entered an open plea, meaning there was no agreement establishing a specific sentence and punishment was left to the judge. He also waived a jury trial.
Blair reviewed a presentence investigation before sentencing Kilgore. He issued the sentence on April 30, 2020. Kilgore received five years in prison, a $1,000 fine and court costs.
Kilgore was taken into custody immediately after sentencing. The publicly available sentencing coverage identifies his convictions as theft of a firearm by a public servant.
Although Kilgore had also been charged with tampering with evidence, the sentencing coverage reviewed for this article does not establish a separate tampering conviction. For that reason, the tampering allegation should be described as a charge rather than as a conviction unless additional court records show otherwise.
A Case That Started With an Audit
The Kilgore case is notable not simply because a former police chief went to prison. It also illustrates how basic internal controls can expose serious problems inside a public agency.
The investigation began with an inventory. That inventory revealed missing city owned firearms. The inquiry expanded to evidence room weapons, seized cash and a missing evidence log.
The Texas Rangers became involved, and criminal charges followed. Ultimately, Kilgore pleaded guilty in two firearm theft cases and received a five year prison sentence.
For Crandall residents who remember the headlines from 2018, the answer to “whatever happened?” is straightforward. The case did not disappear. It ended with guilty pleas and a prison sentence for a former Crandall police chief.
