Former Gunnison police chief tests positive for heroin, charged with drug possession

GUNNISON, Utah ( ABC4 ) — The former Gunnison chief of police was charged with multiple drug offenses on Thursday.

Seth Tyler Hendrickson, 41, was charged in Sanpete County with two counts of possession/use of heroin (class A misdemeanor), possession/use of methamphetamine (class A misdemeanor), possession/use of cocaine (class A misdemeanor), possession/use of marijuana (class B misdemeanor), possession/use of drug paraphernalia (class B misdemeanor), and official misconduct (class B misdemeanor).

In May 2024, a K9 officer in the Gunnison Valley Police Department was scheduled to recertify with his K9 and went to the police station to pick up “training aid substances” to use in the certification, according to a statement of probable cause. However, when the officer looked in his desk drawer to find the box of substances, which included 28 grams each of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana, it wasn’t there.

The officer searched the office and evidence room but still could not find the box. Instead, in the evidence room, he found a container that he had given to Hendrickson — the chief of police at the time — in Feb. 2024. Hendrickson had reportedly told the officer that he needed to show a youth group the dangers of drugs and asked where the K9 officer’s “DEA drugs” were, according to the affidavit.

The officer gave Hendrickson 28 grams of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and marijuana, as well as some mushrooms and paraphernalia. These substances, however, were separate from those received from the DEA in March 2024.

Despite multiple requests from the K9 officer, Hendrickson reportedly had not returned the container. Additionally, when the contents of the container were inventoried, officers found that the 28 grams of heroin, and a small amount of psilocybin mushroom stems, were missing.

On May 23, 2024, the K9 officer asked Hendrickson if he had taken the box that the officer had received from the DEA. Hendrickson told him that the box was in his car.

Officers went to Hendrickson’s home in Sanpete County, where they retrieved Hendrickson’s patrol car. They searched the vehicle back at the station and found the box in the back seat.

Inside, they found “opened evidence-type bags” containing drugs, the affidavit states, which were weighed out at 60 grams of cocaine, 45 grams of heroin, 58 grams of marijuana, and 59 grams of methamphetamine. According to the DEA, however, identical amounts of each drug had been sent, and though each bag was open, only the heroin was missing.

Inside Hendrickson’s patrol car, they also found a tan backpack containing a nametag and a prescription belonging to Hendrickson. Inside the bag, they found two syringes without removable needles and brown residue in the syringes — later field tested to be positive for heroin.

The K9 officer obtained a search warrant for Hendrickson’s hair and fingernails, which was later served on July 17, 2024. Upon being tested, Hendrickson came up positive for codeine, morphine, hydromorphone, and heroin metabolite.

Charges are allegations only. All arrested persons are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

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