Former El Paso County investigator sues over wrongful prosecution, defamation
A former investigator with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office has filed a lawsuit seeking $10 million for alleged “malicious prosecution,” defamation, and being the victim of abuse of process.
Juan “John” San Agustin, Jr. filed the lawsuit Tuesday against El Paso County, District Attorney Dan May, El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder, CBI, Arapahoe County, District Attorney George Brauchler and a slew of other entities and individuals connected to the saga of former Sheriff Terry Maketa’s prosecution for alleged corruption.
San Agustin alleges a deep conspiracy between multiple agencies that harmed his financial interests and caused him to fear for his life.
The complaint begins with the 211 prison crew, hired by the Surenos gang in 2008 to kill, then, Chief Deputy District Attorney Dan May, who had been prosecuting Surenos members.
Instead, the lawsuit claims they mistakenly killed 17th Judicial District Deputy Attorney Sean May.
It then moves to the murder of Tom Clements, who was the head of the Colorado Department of Corrections until 2013 when he was killed by Evan Ebel.
San Agustin investigated his murder.
The documents said San Agustin and his team identified Ebel as a foot soldier for the 211 gang, concluding he was assigned to kill Clements.
While all this was happening, May finds out he was supposed to be the target of the 2008 murder.
The lawsuit said when San Agustin tried to get ranking 211 gang members to be prosecuted for Clements murder, May “refused to let charges be brought.”
Also occurring in 2013, Kelly Trull, a nurse at the jail said she was assaulted by her boyfriend, who was an El Paso County Sheriff’s Office deputy at the time.
According to the documents, she changes her story during an interview that several people were listening in on at the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. One of those people was Shannon Gerhart, who was the Deputy District Attorney in 2013. The complaint said Gerhart made the decision to charge and prosecute Trull.
The documents go on to say San Agustin was not at the Sheriff’s Office for the interview, adding his card swipes proved he left the building.
Fast forward to 2016, during the grand jury on former El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa, the lawsuit claims several defendants, including May, and District Attorney George Brauchler, “manipulated and maneuvered” evidence making San Agustin present when the decision was made to arrest Trull. The documents add, witnesses falsely testified he was there.
But the charges were dropped last October, the document claimed Brauchler and his team had information causing them to question their witness, claiming San Agustin spent almost a year and a half fighting charges that weren’t true in the first place.
Now, San Agustin is suing 22 agencies and people on 11 claims for relief, including defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, conspiracy and violated rights of due process.
KRDO NewsChannel 13 contacted El Paso County as they’re named in the suit. The county said they’ve been served, and county attorneys are reviewing the document.
KRDO NewsChannel 13 also contacted the EL Paso County Sheriff’s Office, who said they don’t comment on pending litigation.
CBI told KRDO NewsChannel 13 that they have not been served the complaint as of Monday evening.
Calls to the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office were not answered as of 10:30 Monday night.
