Pueblo County renews agreement with facility that accused Fountain PD officer killer escaped from

PUEBLO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- Leaders within the Pueblo County government are staying silent on the renewal of an agreement with a community corrections non-profit this week. The non-profit, Intervention Community Corrections Services (ICCS), was in charge of housing and keeping tabs on the man now charged with murdering a Fountain Police officer.

ICCS is responsible for housing people newly released from prison. This can be before their sentence discharge, release to parole, or release to the Inmate Intensive Supervision Program, their website states.

On Tuesday, in a unanimous vote, the Pueblo County commissioners renewed a five-year agreement with ICCS to handle community corrections services. During their meeting, Pueblo County Director of Correctional Services, Brian Gomez, addressed how the previous five years went.

"We only received one proposal that was ICCS Pueblo. We did review that and came to the recommendation for the board today that they did meet the minimum qualifications of the scope of services," Gomez said during Tuesday's meeting.

Pueblo County Commissioner Daneya Esgar then asked Gomez if there have been any "complaints" with the quality of services ICCS is providing.

"I'd say we had some operational issues over the last five years. They were handled and brought to the attention of the administration of Intervention Inc. and they worked with the stakeholders here in Pueblo County, and we got those resolved," Gomez said.

13 Investigates reached out to Gomez's office for more information on what those "operational issues" were. He has not responded to our request for an interview.

13 Investigates found that the number of people terminated from ICCS has dropped significantly since 2020. However, the reasons for the drop remain unknown. Is it because they are getting better outcomes from the offenders sent there, or is there unwillingness to revoke people for violations of the program? These are all questions we are seeking answers to.

ICCS's handling of people newly released from prison has come under scrutiny after Devon Bobian, a multi-time convicted felon, was able to walk away from the facility with little resistance last December.

Two months later, he would allegedly take Fountain police officer on a high-speed chase that ultimately ended in Fountain PD officer Julian Beccera falling from a bridge leading to his death.

13 Investigates uncovered through internal Colorado Department of Correction records that this was Bobian's third time escaping from a community corrections facility run by ICCS. In fact, during an interview with a member of Colorado's parole board, Bobian said he "knew he could get over on the halfway house."

"Even when I finished my parole last time, like, I'll be honest with you, I kind of half-a**ed it. Bobian told parole board member Greg Saiz in November 2022.

Bobian was first sent to "Intervention Community Corrections Services" in 2014 after spending two years in prison on a felony robbery conviction. However, in August 2015, Bobian was revoked back to prison for "multiple violations within the program," according to DOC records.

One of those violations was testing positive for suboxone, a common drug to treat opioid addiction. The positive test came mere weeks before he was scheduled to be paroled back into the community for the first time.

Bobian was sent back to ICCS, the community corrections site in Pueblo for the second time after being revoked in 2015. In December 2018, Bobian was terminated from ICCS for a second time for escaping from the facility. He later pleaded guilty to doing this, DOC records say.

Bobian alluded to the developing behavior of running from the community corrections site in Pueblo during the November 2022 hearing with parole board member Saiz.

"Right away I started panicking, you know what I mean? So I automatically want to, 'Oh well if Imma go back, then I'm just going to run.' Like, that would have been what I what I was so used to doing before and comfortable with just because I didn't want to go back?" Bobian told Saiz about his prior conduct.

"It is my opinion and the opinion of many that the suspect in the case should not have been free. He should have been incarcerated on previous charges," Fountain Police Chief Mark Christiani said. "Maybe we wouldn't be here today. But if it wasn't this case, then it was probably likely going to be another case. And that's the sad reality. But the fact remains that he is back in custody and the system will now play out as it was designed to do."

Bobian is now facing 2nd-degree murder charges in connection to Beccera's death.

The Pueblo County Community Corrections Board is responsible for deciding to allow Bobian re-entry into the same halfway house facility that he previously escaped from multiple times. The members are as follows: William Massey, Tamra Axworthy, David Henderson, Kala Beauvais, Thomas Fletcher, Dan Anderson, Deborah Duran, Don Castro, Erick Javaneau, David Santos, Lucretia Robinson, Pauline Boyd, and Paul Toth.

According to the Department of Corrections, Bobian was referred to them in 2022 while serving a three-year prison sentence. The aforementioned members of the community corrections board then placed him at ICCS for a third time.

13 Investigates also reached out to Alison Warren, Program Director at ICCS, for an interview on what safeguards are in place at their facility to prevent escapes. We are still awaiting her response.

Bobian is still awaiting trial after being charged with misdemeanor escape from a community corrections facility. He will be back in a Pueblo County courtroom on that charge on August 14th.