The Contra Costa County sheriff’s department announced Tuesday night that it has arrested a longtime sheriff’s deputy on felony charges related to thefts at its property and evidence offices in Concord.
The department said in a Facebook post that Martinez resident Kevin Lee, 62, of Martinez is being held on $160,000 bail and facing four felony charges: burglary, receiving stolen property, embezzlement, and possession of an assault weapon.
The property services department is the division that handles the intake, cataloging, storage and disposal of property and evidence.
Ted Asregadoo, the county district attorney’s office spokesperson, said Wednesday via email that they haven’t received the case yet so can’t comment.
Lee joined the sheriff’s office in May 1990 as a deputy sheriff and later became a temporary duty sheriff (paid on a per-diem basis) in 2012, when he was assigned to the property unit, the department said.
The Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office will ask the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) to conduct an independent audit of the property unit.
POST gets involved in such cases because evidence tampering can compromise active criminal cases and lead to overturned convictions.
“All Sheriff’s Office employees are held to the highest standards and any employee who is involved in criminal conduct will be held accountable,” said Contra Costa Sheriff David Livingston in the statement. “This matter was taken seriously, and a thorough investigation was immediately launched once we learned about it.”
Richmond Police Chief Timothy Simmons told Richmondside, “As much as I believe that integrity and choosing to always ‘do that right thing,’ is a non-negotiable, I will pass on opining on this case.”
In 2020 a Contra Costa deputy was charged in a case where he falsely claimed to have booked two illegal AR-15s into evidence serving a search warrant in Antioch, according to news reports.
During an internal investigation the sheriffs department determined that he created false documents and signed for a judge without his consent on multiple search warrant returns for unrelated cases.
The deputy, Matthew Buckley of Pinole, reached a plea deal in 2024, receiving a prison sentence of almost four years.
Reporter Kleigh Carroll contributed to this report.
This is a developing story and Richmondside will update it when further details are available.
