Last year was a tumultuous one for the Denver sheriff’s department, and it looks like the legal trouble is continuing into 2014.
Last week, it was reported that a Denver sheriff’s deputy is accused of supplying alcohol to three teenage girls. The Denver Post reported that the deputy, who had been with the department for more than a decade, was charged with three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
The felony charges stem from an incident last July during which the deputy allegedly brought three teenage girls to a local casino and supplied them with alcohol. The deputy is also accused of filming the girls in a swimming pool and lying in a bed with them.
The mother of one of the girls, who were between 14- and 15-years-old at the time, called police after she allegedly found lewd Facebook and text messages from the deputy on her daughter’s phone.
Police claim the deputy, who is 52, was “grooming” the girl for a sexual encounter.
The deputy has said that he did not have a sexual relationship with any of the girls. It will be very important for him to have an experienced criminal defense lawyer on his side who can make sure that a proper investigation can determine exactly what happened and if laws were, in fact, violated.
During 2013, the Denver sheriff’s department was in the press several times for alleged deputy misconduct. Even the second-highest ranking member of the force resigned late last year after being targeted in a misconduct investigation himself.
Source: Denver Post, “Denver sheriff’s deputy arrested for plying teen-age girls with booze,” Sadie Gurman, Jan. 23, 2014