After months of rumors and questions from the public about his status, Libby Chief of Police Cody Ercanbrack has been charged with official misconduct.

The charges were filed near the end of the work day Friday, Oct. 16, in Lincoln County District Court and District Judge Matt Cuffe determined Wednesday there was probable cause for the case to proceed.

Ercanbrack, 35, is facing three separate charges, all misdemeanors. They include two counts of official misconduct, theft and obstruction of a peace officer or other public servant. Ercanbrack was hired in 2023 and sworn in May 3 of the same year.

His initial appearance in the Lincoln County Courthouse courtroom is scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4.

Libby Mayor Hugh Taylor said city officials are looking into what Ercanbrack’s current status is. 

“We are collecting relevant information from other agencies and we will make more information available as we are able,” Taylor said.

In the information charging the offenses, County Attorney Marcia Boris alleges that between Oct. 15, 2024, and June 10, 2026, Ercanbrack misappropriated money by depositing donated funds intended for the Libby Police Department into a non-municipal account which he had control of and was not overseen by the city of Libby. In addition, he is accused of using funds which did not belong to him for personal use.

In the theft charge, Ercanbrack is accused of purposely gaining control of another’s property and knowingly using, concealing or abandoning it in a manner that deprived the owner of the property.

In the obstruction charge, Ercanbrack is accused of making untruthful statements to agent Don Guiberson of the Montana Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), during an interview regarding misappropriation of funds.

The alleged misappropriation came from a Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) account that was set up in 2021 by officers from the Libby and Troy police departments. The account was funded by automatic payroll deductions and deposits by active FOP members. The money was intended to pay national membership fees and other FOP activities.

When four Libby police officers resigned in November 2022, the FOP was dissolved and the bank account became dormant. It had a balance of $312.14 at the time.

Ercanbrack has been on paid administrative leave for the majority of 2026. He was first placed on leave March 4 following his involvement in the officer-involved shooting of Aaron Jeffrey Graham south of Libby at a camper trailer on Libby Creek Road. Ercanbrack, along with other officers involved in the incident, were eventually cleared of any wrong-doing following an investigation by the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office. Lincoln County Attorney Marcia Boris and Valley County Attorney Dylan J. Jensen, brought in after Boris sought an additional independent review, both determined the shooting was justified. 

At the time, Don Luthey, a city police sergeant with nearly 30 years in law enforcement, was in charge while Ercanbrack was on leave in relation to the shooting. 

On April 2, Luthey received a letter from a local bank about an overdraft of $9.77. A 45-day notice followed on April 13.

Meanwhile, Ercanbrack returned to work on May 18. According to the affidavit of probable cause, Luthey said he found unopened, sealed bank statements on the week of May 18 in the garbage at the police department. He found it odd and brought the information to the county Sheriff’s Office because he no longer felt comfortable investigating the matters related to Ercanbrack due to concerns about a possible conflict of interest.

Luthey provided information about the FOP account to county Det. Brandon Huff.

Huff performed the initial investigation and learned that the FOP account was transferred on Sept. 26, 2024, to Ercanbrack as the primary account holder and Luthey as the backup, despite the fact that neither were FOP members, nor were they elected into leadership roles. The account transfer was done following the resignation of Libby Police Officer Cody DeWitt in 2024.

Huff explained the situation to county Sheriff Darren Short. Because Short was running for re-election on the Republican ticket with Ercanbrack, Huff contacted DCI to further investigate the matter to avoid concerns of a conflict of interest. Short ended up winning the June 2 primary election with 77% of the vote.

May 18, DCI agent Don Guiberson got the case and received Huff’s investigative file and report.

The investigation determined that $297.96 was deposited on Oct. 4, 2024, into the dormant account, eight days after the transfer on Sept. 26, 2024. A debit card provided to Ercanbrack from the bank showed purchases being made at a car wash, grocery store and restaurants in Libby. 

Other purchases were made with the card at fast food and retail stores in Montana and Idaho, according to the charging document. Other purchases were made in other states that coincided with Ercanbrack’s scheduled vacation dates and locations.

On June 10, agent Guiberson interviewed Huff and Luthey, who’d recently joined the county Sheriff’s Office. Luthey told the state investigator he resigned from the Libby Police Department, in part, due to the situation with Ercanbrack.

Luthey said Ercanbrack asked him to meet at the bank to sign on the account because Dewitt was resigning. Ercanbrack gave Luthey a debit/ATM card and got one for himself, according to the charging document. Luthey said he never used the card.

Guiberson also interviewed Ercanbrack on June 10 about the debit card discrepancies. The chief allegedly admitted to buying groceries by mistake with the card. Ercanbrack said Luthey told him of the charge and he paid the city back.

When Guiberson asked Ercanbrack about the FOP account, the chief said it wasn’t being used and because he had no contact with anyone in the FOP, he switched the funds to the Police Department. Guiberson found it odd because Dewitt signed the account over to Ercanbrack.

When Guiberson asked Ercanbrack if he bought anything not related to department use, the chief allegedly denied it. Guiberson pointed out that the account wasn’t approved by the police department or the city.

City officials told Guiberson they didn’t authorize or file the FOP debit card. But Ercanbrack allegedly said he received permission to use the account.

According to Guiberson’s investigation, Ercanbrack said people donated money to the Police Department by check, but he never cashed them. The agent reported that statement appeared to be false.

The charging document included 28 transactions between Oct. 15, 2024 and Feb. 26, 2026. They ranged from $7.91 to $583.50. A payment to Super Vacuum Manufacturing, a Colorado firm that sells police equipment, for $583.50 on March 13 was made three days after a deposit for the same amount from a Libby HVAC company.

On July 6, Guiberson spoke to Libby City Administrator Sam Sikes, who said after a previous incident, Ercanbrack was told every bit of money received by the department needed to be reported, utilized through and turned into the city.

Sikes told the DCI agent that Ercanbrack had auctioned off firearms owned by the police department in a sheriff’s auction, then bought equipment with the money, but never turned the money in to the city or using the city’s financial process.

Sikes said Ercanbrack would have absolutely known in March 2025 that he was to report any funds or purchases and that they needed to through the city financials and not on an outside credit card/

Ten days following the primary election, June 12, Ercanbrack was placed on paid leave again. That status has not changed.