PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — A man who admits lying to Nebraska officials in January about the price of a vehicle he purchased won’t be allowed to become a law enforcement officer in South Dakota.
The decision to deny certification eligibility for Ryken Ishman came Tuesday during the South Dakota Law Enforcement Standards and Training Commission meeting in Deadwood.
The 21-year-old Ishman filed false information in Nebraska stating that he paid $500 for a vehicle when the actual purchase price was $10,000. He could have been charged with a felony crime had his action occurred in South Dakota.
Pierre Police Chief Jason Jones told the South Dakota Commission on Tuesday that Ishman made a good impression during an interview and that he wanted to hire Ishman as a law enforcement officer. The Pierre City Commission approved the hiring at its March 25 meeting.
“I think he understands fully what he has done,” Chief Jones said.
Ishman chose to appear online for the state commission’s meeting. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this, obviously not the right thing to do. If I could go back and do it again, I would take it back,” Ishman said.
Ishman was asked whether a criminal charge had been filed against him.
No, he answered.
Then he was asked whether he had corrected the illegal filing in Nebraska.
No, he said.
Commissioner Steve Allender, a former Rapid City mayor and police chief, said that Ishman’s eligibility to be certified as a law enforcement officer in South Dakota should be denied.
Allender said that the matter before the commission was was public and the information would be published forever that that Ishman had committed a crime three months ago in Nebraska. Allender said it would be wrong for the commission to let Ishman remain eligible for certification when there could be an indictment issued.
“I think it would be a bad move, especially with a three-month-old incident, to give this person eligibility to become a law enforcement officer,” Allender said.
There was no further discussion. The commission in a voice voice unanimously denied eligibility.
The commission in other action on Tuesday:
— Revoked certification of Brookings County deputy Kevin Murfield. The commission found that Murfield had engaged in conduct unbecoming a law enforcement officer because he had shown an investigation photo to a woman with whom he was romantically involved at the time. The woman filed a complaint against Murfield after their relationship had ended and he then began dating someone else.
— Reinstated eligibility for Tate Fremo. The commission had decertified him in March 2024. Fremo had been working at the Hughes County Jail when he took home a preliminary breath test machine and some plastic blow tubes from the jail without telling his supervisors. Fremo told the commission on Tuesday that he had made “obviously a stupid decision and exercised poor judgment” and now sought a second chance.
— Denied eligibility reinstatement for Albert Little Elk, who was fired as an officer by Rosebud Sioux Tribe Law Enforcement Services after using a taser on a man who was a nephew of the then-Rosebud police chief.
— Reinstated certification for Paige Erickson, who was a South Dakota Highway Patrol trooper from 2016 into 2021. She let her certification lapse. She now is a Lead police officer.
— Reinstated certification for Khrista Nelson, who was a South Dakota Highway Patrol trooper from 2014 into 2019. She let her certification lapse. She now is a deputy for the Pennington County Sheriff Office.
