Fountain Police Chief and Fremont County Manager answer 13 Investigates questions about Florence issues

FLORENCE, Colo. (KRDO) -- The 13 Investigates team is now getting clarity on the findings and reasoning of Fremont County Manager and Fountain Police Chief's involvement in helping the City of Florence amid a growing corruption scandal plaguing the small town of fewer than 4,000 residents.

Six Florence City Council members resigned in March after they told 13 Investigates they weren't able to get corruption allegations investigated by an outside agency.

Mayor Paul Villagrana remains the only elected official in the small, tight-knit community. The City of Florence Interim City Manager and Police Chief have mostly stopped answering questions posed to them by 13 Investigates in the last two weeks.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is looking into "potential criminal allegations" in Florence after meeting with Fremont County District Attorney Linda Stanley on Wednesday morning.

Fountain Assistance

"For clarity, the City of Fountain is not investigating anything," Fountain City Manager Scott Trainor said. "Chief Heberer had a recent conversation with their police Chief and it sounded like they had some things they needed assistance with so we offered to assist them. Currently, we understand there is a forensic audit ongoing and potentially a CBI investigation so we’re in a holding pattern so as not to interfere in anything they have going on."

13 Investigates was able to speak with Fountain Police Chief Chris Heberer Friday morning about how he got involved with assisting the City of Florence, his agency's jurisdiction, and what he wants Florence citizens to know.

Heberer grew up just minutes away from Florence in Canon City.

"My intention is not to hurt anybody in Florence, nor cover anything up, but really to assist them in their form of government. And it just really hit me when their entire city government resigned. And you know, all citizens deserve a functioning government and a high functioning ethical and moral police department. And we're just on my heart to provide any assistance to help the citizens important to achieve that goal," Heberer said.

The Fountain Police Chief said he contacted Florence Police Chief Shane Prickett to see if he could assist with policy and best practice type reviews because his agency has no criminal investigative jurisdiction in Fremont County as it relates to Florence.

"Our jurisdiction is limited really to here within the Fountain City limits jurisdiction," Heberer told 13 Investigates.
"You know, we wouldn't really be able to launch or prosecute cases through the criminal justice system or through the DA there, as we would do here in our community."

Heberer also explained previous selling old police cars to the City of Florence years ago. He told 13 Investigates this morning that he was unaware of any Florence citizen's public records request looking into records related to police vehicle sales between Fountain and Florence in 2019.

The Fountain Police Chief says his agency sold old vehicles to various cities when they were updating their police fleet a few years back but he was unaware of what happened to those vehicles once they were no longer Fountain City property.

"I'm just going back on memory. But we sold it in order to help those organizations and those police officers that were in worse shape than us. And when they left us they were picked up by those agencies. All the paperwork we ran through our finance department should have went to their finance department went on those books, and it was sold in order to help those police officers and those citizens in each of those respective communities have, have transportation," Heberer said.

Financial Records Review

13 Investigates also received a response from Fremont County Manager Sunny Bryant about what she found while reviewing the City of Florence financial records.

In an email obtained by 13 Investigates Florence's Interim City Manager Tom Piltingsrud told routine auditors that Bryant found no obvious signs of theft related to the City of Florence's finances but she did find a $280,000 "anomaly" that couldn't be explained.

13 Investigates reached out to Bryant to verify if the contents of Piltingsrud's email to auditors aligned with what she found regarding the City of Florence finances.

"In general, the contents are accurate.  The City of Florence has their annual audit scheduled for the week of March 28.  By expanding the scope of that audit, they will have a better idea as to which direction they go moving forward.  At that point they may potentially narrow the scope of a forensic audit, if that is the direction they choose to go."

Fremont County Manager Sunny Bryant

If you have a tip or lead you want our investigative team to look into, email us at 13Investigates@krdo.com.