An associate professor who taught criminal justice classes at Kansas Wesleyan University is facing felony theft charges after several alleged shoplifting incidents involving $3,350 worth of trading cards from the Salina Target store.
Salina Police tell KSAL News on February 1st at about 6:30 PM, an officer responded to Target, 2939 Market Place, to an alleged shoplifting which had occurred, and the suspect had already left the scene.
Employees reported that a male had entered the store and picked up 11 boxes of Topps trading cards. He then walked around the store, removed the packs from the boxes, and concealed the packs on his person before leaving the store without paying. Loss on that date was about $650.
The store provided a tag number which came back to 53-year-old Derrin Broome.
Employees also indicated they recognized Broome from committing similar thefts, which had not been previously reported, four previous times from the store between January 5th and January 29th. In each instance Broome allegedly picked up multiple boxes of Topps trading cards and then removed and concealed the packs. During these for incidents, total loss was valued at about $2, 700.
Broome was arrested a few days later, on February 5th by the Saline County Sheriff’s office on a warrant for these thefts. He was booked into the Saline County Jail on a requested charge of felony theft.
Prior to the arrest, Broome was listed as an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Department of Criminal Justice and Emergency Management, on the KWU website.
According to a 2024 story regarding new faculty, Broome came to the KWU in August of that year after wrapping up a 26-year law enforcement career that included 20 years of investigation and case management experience. He spent 20 years as his agency’s main instructor for topics including defensive tactics, de-escalation, use of force, firearms, and other topics.
As of today, Broome is no longer listed on the KWU website.
