State Police Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik, one of the chief investigators in the Karen Read murder case, has lost five days leave for failing to “conform to work standards.”

Bukhenik, the $211,000-a-year head of the detectives investigating the Canton case, sent back smile emojis when one of his troopers texted vile comments about Karen Read.

Those texts, from Trooper Michael “Chip” Proctor, included “so far no nudes” of Read on her cell phone. Bukhenik was among the troopers on that text chain, according to court testimony.

The State Police “Disciplinary Action” memo provided to the Herald Monday stated Bukhenik “did fail to conform to work standards established for his rank, title, or position.” This was for a subordinate who sent “inappropriate correspondence regarding an ongoing investigation.”

He also “failed to properly utilize the Employee Evaluation System … to properly document the inefficiencies of a subordinate.”

For that, the memo ends, Bukhenik must “forfeit five days of accrued leave.”

Proctor became an embarrassment to the Massachusetts State Police and to prosecutors in the Read case when he admitted to seriously inappropriate conduct — including describing Read, the girlfriend and suspect in O’Keefe’s death, in text messages as a “whack job,” “a babe” who had “no (butt).” He also texted his sister that “hopefully (Read) kills herself.”

Hours after the Read murder trial ended in mistrial, the MSP announced it had pulled Proctor off duty. He would soon be suspended without pay. Read is scheduled to be retried in January.

Proctor has also been pulled off the murder case of Cohasset’s Brian Walshe, who is accused of dismembering his wife and dumping her body parts around the North Shore.