The sheriff and undersheriff

The undersheriff (sheriff-elect) attended the two-week orientation for newly elected sheriffs at the Arapahoe County Law Enforcement Training Facility. 

The annual CCSO Employee Appreciation Dinner was held December 13 at the Salida Community Center. At the event, Communications Manager Annette Stolba was presented the Sheriff’s Executive Award for her three decades of service to the sheriff’s office and to the community. Buena Vista resident and businessman Bill Lockett, who unfortunately was not able to attend the event, was awarded the Sheriff’s Citation for Meritorious Service for his contributions in building a partnership between the community and the sheriff’s office.

Operations

The sheriff’s office is investigating two separate attempted sexual assaults that occurred at the Monarch Ski Area. In both cases, the teenage male offender struck up an acquaintance with a young female skiing alone. After some initial interaction, the suspect attempted to physically assault his victims and in the second case, brandished a handgun. Both victims were able to escape. Subsequent investigation identified a fifteen-year-old male from the Colorado Springs area who was arrested and charged with the offenses. Press releases are posted on our website.

The Mountain Mail ran two articles about the agency, one in which they interviewed Deputy Cortese regarding our Explorer Post and the other on the jail for which the reporter toured the facility hosted by Cmdr. Rick Holland. Both articles were quite positive.

Five deputies participated in the Shop with a Cop program: Darren Lougheed, Jeff Stephens, Randy Carricato, Lamine Mullenax, and Ed O’Brien. As in past years, the event was well received by the youngsters and the community.

The sheriff’s office spearheaded a multiagency three-and-a-half hour live commercial radio event on December 30 for a special New Year’s Eve Don’t Drink and Drive campaign at the Eagle Country Radio station in Salida. The event was carried live on three radio stations: 104.1 Eagle Country, 97.5 Hippie Radio, and 92.3 The Peak. Thanks to Deputy Ben Adair for his work on this project.

  Investigations

Late entry from November: Detective Hysjulien investigated a complex (multiple state and multiple victim) sex assault that resulted in the arrest of an eighty-year-old Glenwood, Minnesota man. He was jailed on charges of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust, two counts of incest, and two counts of unlawful sexual contact. Bail was set at $50,000.

  Training Issues

  Personnel

Deputy Joe McGuire has accepted an interim appointment as patrol commander until a suitable permanent candidate is selected, likely to be sometime in February.

Jesse Sanderlin is our newest patrol deputy, hired just this month. He has a BA in Criminal Justice from Mesa State University and graduated from the Delta Montrose Law Enforcement Academy December 19th.  This is his first law enforcement job.

  Complaints / commendations

A Buena Vista man, the subject of last month’s summary report entry regarding his involuntary placement on a 72-hour mental health hold, left a voicemail message for the sheriff thanking deputies for “doing the right thing” in providing him humane treatment, and for their patience during his “psychotic episode” which he said was due to his inadvertent mixing of prescription drugs. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you, thank you, thank you,” he said in his voicemail.

Victims Advocate

 Communications Center

  Personnel

Shannon Vallejos was hired to fill the vacant dispatcher position. She begins her employment January 2^nd and will attend a basic emergency services dispatching class January 5-9. Dispatcher Jennifer Rice will also attend this training.

Equipment

Training Attended

Search and Rescue

Records and Administration

Detention Facility

On Christmas Day, Deana Kaiser organized a fantastic dinner provided by volunteers from churches throughout the community. These volunteers donated prepared food as well as their time to serve the eighty-two offenders housed in our jail a home cooked Christmas dinner. The volunteers are from First Baptist Church, The Vineyard, The Church of Christ of Poncha Springs, Upper Room Church of God, Temple Baptist Church, and River Valley Church.

Personnel

Matt Ormseth resigned and returned to Wyoming. We hired Dave Heeke and Vivian Richey to fill the vacancies left by Ann Matthews and Matt Ormseth. Dave Heeke resigned and we filled that vacancy with Kevin Dehn. All this turnover resulted in two part-time vacancies that still need to be filled.