A former South Dakota Highway Patrol trooper admits to stealing nearly $70,000 in drug seizure money over a four-year period.
Brian Biehl pled guilty in a Brule County courtroom this week.
Biehl worked as a state trooper in the Chamberlain area for 15 years, but that’s not the only job where he has the public’s trust.
He also leads a South Dakota school district.
There are new details Biehl’s guilty plea and what it means for his role as a school board president.
In a plea bargain, Brian Biehl pled guilty to grand theft by law enforcement.
Biehl said all the money he took was drug seizure money and that he took the money from evidence bags and kept the empty bags in a briefcase in his squad car.
He admitted the thefts had been, “Going on for quite some time;” adding that he took the cash to pay bills saying, “I know I screwed up.”
He also says he planned to pay it back.
Biehl now faces up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. He’s been ordered to pay $42,000 in fees and restitution.
It’s a long fall for the patrolmen, who in 2012 was named “officer of the year” and his K-9 was named “service dog of the year.”
Biehl is also school board president of the Platte Geddes School District.
Sources tell KELOLAND News that he continues to hold that position today.
Platte-Geddes Superintendent Joel Bailey says he cannot comment on Biehl’s status on the school board, calling it a personnel matter.
Biehl will be sentenced in March in Chamberlain.
