Derick Chandler

by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Derick Chandler, 31, of Wellington has returned from Europe and is now in Sumner County Jail.

On Wednesday, a Sumner County District Judge has set Chandler’s appearance bond at $1 million, up from the original $75,000. Chandler is expected to remain in custody at the Sumner County jail until at least his next court appearance on April 1.

Chander is facing five felony charges including two counts of sexual exploitation of a child, aggravated indecent liberties with a child, aggravated indecent solicitation of a minor under age 14, and aggravated indecent liberties with a minor under the age of 14.

The charges stem from inappropriate conduct with a 13-year-old girl, who was babysitting his children at the time.

Chandler appeared before a Sumner County Judge on Wednesday after being extradited from Budapest, Hungary on Tuesday. He was escorted by Sumner County Sheriff deputies from MCI Airport in Kansas City to Sumner County Jail in Wellington. He had been detained perhaps 45 days ago in Hungary after escaping to Europe in August 2019.

According to the court complaint, Chandler developed an inappropriate relationship with the 13-year-old who was babysitting the Chandler children, while either he or his wife were working the third shift. Chandler, at the time, was working as a deputy for the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office.

On two separate occasions, according to the court complaint, Chandler had coerced the 13-year-old to engage in sexually explicit conduct by allegedly asking her to send him nude photos on her cell phone in June and again in July 2019.

Also, allegedly, on two separate occasions, he participated in inappropriate sexual misconduct with her while they were alone at his home.

Before he was about to get arrested, Chandler escaped authorities by fleeing Wellington in his 2015 Dodge Charger and driving to Dallas. He then allegedly boarded a plane at Dallas/Fort Worth Municipal Airport and flew to Houston and then to Istanbul, Turkey.

He had been at large in Europe for more than 18 months.

According to the Turkey International Extradition Treaty with the United States, the two countries are to provide for mutual assistance in criminal matters. However, Chandler was not charged by the Sumner County Attorney’s office for over a year, so the Turkey government had no obligation to turn him over if he was found. Since then he was believed to have left Turkey and entered Hungary. 

Chandler was once a member of the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office and was considered an exemplary employee. He graduated at the top of his class and had no complaints filed against him, according to Jeff Easter, Sedgwick County Sheriff in August 2019.

A background check showed Chandler did face charges after a bruise was found on his stepson in 2013 in Sumner County. But Spencer wrote in an email to KAKE-TV that “subsequent investigation revealed alternative explanations for the bruise on the child’s buttocks so that charge was dismissed in November 2013.”