"In Monday’s report, prosecutors highlight a section of state statutes indicating that charges against Cody might be related to statements made by former Marion restaurant owner Kari Newell that Cody urged her to destroy evidence of text messages the two had exchanged."
http://marionrecord.com. Paper cleared; ex-chief faces felony charge
https://kansasreflector.com/2024/08/13/former-marion-police-...
A conviction would likely only result in probation for a low level felony he is no longer in a position to repeat offend in.
https://www.kansas.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/dion-lefler... "We can safely assume the video recording is accidental for two reasons: 1) At the start of the conversation, Cody warns Newell, “We can’t write anything” to each other and she replies “Yeah, I know, I understand.” And 2) Immediately after he hangs up, Cody video-recorded himself taking a leak in the men’s room at a Casey’s General Store."
https://www.kake.com/features/special-content/untold-story-k... "The day after we completed this interview, Newell revealed the chief had asked her to delete text messages between them after rumors began that they were romantically involved. She says there's no truth to those rumors, but she deleted the texts anyway - then immediately regretted it."