Maketa Retrial: day four, witness testimony focuses on misconduct

Day four of Terry Maketa saw four witnesses take the stand. All four testified to either witnessing or feeling retaliation from the former El Paso County Sheriff.

The day begin with Rich Hegstad on the stand. He was in HR at “CHC,” the company where Wendy Habert worked while providing health care services at the El Paso County Jail.

Habert was fired from CHC without being given a clear reason why, which is the subject of the extortion and conspiracy to commit extortion charges. She said it was in retaliation for refusing to run Undersheriff Paula Presley’s campaign to become sheriff. She also thought her filing a sexual harassment complaint against Commander John Molatch with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office may have played a role.

Maketa oversaw operations at the jail as sheriff.

Hegstad testified that Maketa called him and told him to “take care of the issue or the contract would go out to bid.” That meant he either terminated Habert, or the company’s five million dollar contract with the jail would be at stake.

When asked if he was told why he should fire Habert, he said Maketa didn’t give him a real reason.

He testified, “If there hadn’t been a problem with the client {Maketa}, then no, there wouldn’t have been a reason to fire her.”

Then the focus shifted from extortion to the reason Maketa is charged with official misconduct.

Prosecutor Amy Fitch was called to the stand.

She is responsible for putting together the “Brady List.” The Brady List is an account of all the officers who have problems with being honest or have other serious complaints against them, like excessive force or criminal charges.

Fitch said the Brady List is a “career-killer” because the person’s past is turned over to defense attorneys and often used to attack their credibility.

She said adding people to the list should never been taken lightly and is only done after serious consideration.

As his time as sheriff came to an end, Maketa tried to get several employees who had angered him on the list, according to Fitch.

Among those employees were Ray Gerhart and Jim Reid. Prosecution argued those two employees were targets of Maketa’s retaliation.

Fitch didn’t mince words when asked what she first thought upon seeing the request from Maketa.

“My first reaction was this is basically a hit list, an enemies list of Mr. Maketa,” she testified.

She said she asked for further clarification about what they did that should land them on the list, but the sheriff’s legal counsel said Maketa refused to give any details.

“I’ve never had anything like that happen before or since,” Fitch said. She added that since she didn’t receive any more information, she couldn’t add them to the list.

Current Undersheriff Joe Breister took the stand next.

He agreed with others’ claims of targeted punishment, describing his time at the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office under Terry Maketa as, “Retaliatory, based upon where you sat on political spectrums with the upcoming election for the office. It was just very uneasy and uncomfortable working at that time depending upon who you were supporting or you thought should succeed Sheriff Maketa.”

Breister was the person who documented Habert’s complaint of sexual harassment by Cmr. Molatch.

He said after Habert’s relationship with Maketa deteriorated, Maketa told Breister the complaint was unfounded and the investigation wasn’t thorough, so he should just “delete everything” relating to it.

Lt. Cheryl Peck had similar testimony regarding feeling retaliated against and experiencing Maketa covering something up.

She was the one who noticed Bill Elder’s Internal Affairs file was missing.

Elder is the current sheriff, but was a candidate for sheriff at the time. The missing file is said to have contained information about Elder’s misdeeds, but some people question whether a file really existed. It still has not been found.

Peck testified the missing file caused strife within the department. She said Maketa came up with multiple people who could have taken the file. Supporters of Elder were then investigated and forced to take lie detectors tests about their knowledge of the file and involvement.

Suspect number one was Ray Gerhart, a vocal supporter of Elder. Peck said Maketa told her to question him until he admitted involvement.

When she refused to cooperate, Maketa moved her to the midnight shift, which is seen as a demotion.

Maketa is being retried on four counts a jury deadlocked on last summer. He could be facing six years in prison if convicted of extortion.