Employment investigation finds wrongdoing on part of El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa

An investigation into employment allegations levied against El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa has found many of the allegations are true.

Among the findings of the investigation:

That Sheriff Maketa engaged in inappropriate relationships with three female subordinates resulting in preferential treatment that allowed those individuals to disregard El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Policies and Procedures, abuse leave policies, ignore use of county property policies, chain of command procedures and the internal affairs process.
That Sheriff Maketa and Undersheriff Presley inappropriately attempted to influence internal affairs investigations and failed to follow EPSO policies for initiating and conducting internal affairs investigations.
That Sheriff Maketa and Undersheriff Presley, without good cause, opened an internal affairs investigation and a criminal investigation into an alleged missing internal affairs file on a former EPSO employee. That Undersheriff Presley refused to cooperate with investigators and declined to be interviewed.

An El Paso County spokesperson said Thursday (10/30/14) that nine current or former employees plan to file lawsuits in relation to this investigation. So far, no suits have been filed.

Bill Elder is running unopposed for El Paso County sheriff. He will take over the office in January.

Investigators said Undersheriff Paula Presley and Maketa were wrong in their pursuit for Elder’s alleged missing internal affairs file.

“I think it is what a lot of us expected. It’s nice to hear that this investigation found that there was no good reason for the internal affairs investigation or a criminal investigation into my missing file. That is what I have said all along,” said Elder.

Elder said there is still a tough road ahead for the sheriff’s office.

“I want to get to work, like I said earlier, repairing the confidence of the public. Repairing the confidence of the employees. I think there has been as much damage to the internal portions of the organization as anything,” said Elder.

It’s ultimately up to the District Attorney’s Office to decide if charges are filed against Maketa. District Attorney Dan May said he is waiting to review the results of an investigation by the Colorado Bureau of Investigations before making a decision.

“A lot of the things they talk about were violations of policies and procedures of the county or the sheriff’s office. We would be only interested in reviewing things that may implicate criminal laws themselves,” said May.

Erin Jensen represents employees who have filed Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaints against Maketa. His clients said the battle isn’t over.

“It’s just a confirmation that what they have been saying is true. For months and months, there has been this question mark about whether they are victims,” said Jensen.

Jensen wants the District Attorney’s Office to file charges against Maketa.

“My clients are victims of crimes and today was evidence of that. So my clients want to know why isn’t Terry Maketa being treated like any other person who has committed a crime?” said Jensen.

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday it would not comment on the summary of the investigation. A spokesperson for the agency said it’s not issuing a statement because of other pending investigations.

El Paso County spokesperson Dave Rose said the first two bills for the investigation totaled $175,000. The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office will cover the costs. However, the fund it will use to pay for the investigation is funded by taxpayer dollars.