Leadership: Selection Processes are Imperfect - Predator Anthony Bunten, a.k.a. Sean Englbrecht - Case Study

By Dr. Frank Kardasz  |  Editor Ava Gozo

Another Day in the ICAC Office...

In 2001, I was assigned as Task Force Commander for the Arizona Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force while employed as a Sergeant with the Phoenix Police Department Organized Crime Bureau.

We had openings in our unit for undercover investigators -- duties to include reactive and proactive undercover investigations involving CSAM; and also covertly posing in various personas for the purpose of catching the online predators who seek sex with minors in Internet chat rooms.

I advertised the openings in the weekly Phoenix PD newsletter that was subsequently distributed to our 2,500 sworn employees, and I received about fifteen applications.

I culled through the applications and chose the top five to invite into an interview process based on their seniority, experience and disciplinary history; because that was the department and union-approved method of initial selection and de-selection.

Among the applicants not chosen was a patrol officer named Anthony Bunten.  Phoenix PD is a big agency, in the fifth largest city in the US, and I had no other knowledge of Bunten. According to his file he was a four-year patrol officer with some excessive force discipline history and no investigative experience. His application was rejected as not-eligible.

Through our approved interview process we later selected a couple of qualified candidates for the job.

A Few Months Later

Fast forward to September 2002...

The Phoenix evening news' lead story reported that the Glendale Police Department had arrested Phoenix Police Officer Anthony Bunten.

Glendale Police reported that Bunten, age 34, identifying himself as "Tony," contacted a 13-year-old  boy on an Internet chat room, then arranged for a meeting at the boy's home in Glendale AZ. The boy's parents were away, but his 10-year-old brother walked in while the boy was having sex with Bunten.

The ten-year-old later reported the incident to his parents. The parents reported to Glendale PD. Glendale investigators identified Bunten because he had given his phone number to his victim and had used the Internet login name "Buntenaw".

Just after his arrest, Anthony Bunten strategically changed his name to Sean Englbrecht. That change then made it more difficult for a subsequent public records search to find him; and consequently his later sentencing was not reported in the media

Bunten was indicted on two counts of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor-typically resulting in a maximum sentence of over 50 years prison.

Predator's Background

In his four-year career with Phoenix police, Bunten was disciplined three times, including an excessive-force incident where he pushed a drunken trespasser with his baton and challenged him to a fight. He received the maximum punishment short of termination, a 240-hour suspension. "The squad as a whole knows that Officer Bunten is 'high-strung,' " a fellow officer noted in a report. The other two discipline reports involved late paperwork. Nothing in Bunten's personnel file mentioned anything related to sexual misconduct. And Bunten passed a psychological examination and polygraph specifically addressing criminal sexual activity when he was hired.

Plea Deal

Subsequent to plea negotiations, the reduced charge against Bunten/Englbrecht was one count of attempt sexual conduct with a minor. The plea deals like this that get offenders off with lighter sentences are often negotiated in part to keep the victim from having to testify at trial and to otherwise push through the unending series of cases awaiting adjudication in a very busy court system.

His certification as an Arizona Peace officer was revoked. 

Predator Imprisoned

In 2003, Bunten-turned-Englbrecht was sentenced to 12 years prison.

His Arizona Department of Corrections web page shows that while incarcerated his work assignments included Carpentry, Conflict Resolution, Substance Abuse Brief Intervention, and Cultural Diversity.
He has a tattoo of a machine gun on his right bicep with "Dominate  Eliminate  Control"

Today

Anthony Bunten a.k.a. Sean Englbrecht was released in 2013 and is presently registered as a Level 1 sex offender residing in Phoenix.

Postscript

Postscript

The arrest of a law enforcement officer anywhere is a stain on all of us everywhere.  In the Phoenix PD, the Bunten story was disturbing news. I am grateful to the Glendale PD for capturing this predator and also grateful to the brave family who reported him. 

In initially hiring rookie Bunten, Phoenix PD appears to have performed the due diligence that their processes required. In retrospect, they probably regretted not terminating him after his use of force violation.  

Personally, I felt like our AZ ICAC unit was fortunate to have luckily de-selected the four-year veteran Bunten early in our process. Had we brought in a predator to a unit whose job it is to catch predators, it would have made this bad situation even worse.

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