Affidavit: Former Florence City Manager repeatedly coerced coworkers for sex at City Hall

FLORENCE, Colo. (KRDO) -- The former city manager of Florence, Mike Patterson, was arrested this week for charges of unlawful sexual contact and stalking; new documents obtained Wednesday by KRDO detail the allegations against Patterson.

According to an arrest affidavit, Patterson was barred from entering city facilities and placed on administrative leave based on an allegation that he was sending sexually inappropriate text messages to a subordinate employee.

The Florence Police Department began investigating on Aug. 30, and detectives interviewed "numerous witnesses" who reported similar experiences of having received inappropriate text messages from Patterson. Three women were identified as victims, though their names have not been released publicly.

One city employee told detectives that Patterson met her when she was an employee at a restaurant, and Patterson offered her a job with the city. Before she started working for the city, Patterson invited her to his home to do housework, but they began drinking and had consensual sex. After she was hired, she told Patterson she wasn't interested in him, but he kept pursuing her, according to the affidavit.

Court documents say Patterson sent that employee videos of himself masturbating, and he would brag to the employee about "different sexual interactions he had with other people in the office," including having sex in the city chambers. The employee told police Patterson would try to "intimidate or control her" by bringing out her personnel file and saying she had "the biggest file" of any employee.

The employee told police that Patterson asked her to have sex in the boiler room of the city gym, and she confronted him asking "why he even thought she would say yes to something like that." Court documents say Patterson replied saying "it was probably inappropriate." According to the affidavit, Patterson's sexual advances toward that employee "largely occurred at Florence City Hall."

Another employee interviewed by police said Patterson never "did" anything to her, but he reportedly gave her a bottle of wine "without explanation" while she was at work, and he also once brought a bottle to her house, leaving it in the mailbox. She said she was 20 at the time Patterson gave her the bottles, and she said she felt like he was flirting with her.

A third city employee interviewed by police said Patterson started complimenting her, but his communication became "more and more inappropriate and more persistent." According to court documents, Patterson tried to get her to go to his wedding and asked her to be the photographer. At one point, Patterson sent the employee text messages saying he wanted her to sleep with him and his wife. The affidavit included screenshots of the text messages, which included Patterson propositioning the city employee.

Several other employees interviewed by police detailed sexually inappropriate comments made by Patterson around the office. Patterson also sent "explicit content" in text messages to some of those employees, and made sexual advances to another employee.

Police noted that a former Florence city clerk had also sued the city regarding a sexual harassment complaint that involved Patterson. Police reviewed those documents, which said Patterson "frequently sexually harassed" the employee and sent lewd text messages via his work cell phone.

Florence Police filed the affidavit and got arrest warrants for two felony counts of stalking, one count of unlawful sexual contact, and one count of unlawful act for giving an underage person alcoholic beverages.

Patterson was arrested on Tuesday at the Denver Airport. He was listed in custody in Denver County as of Wednesday.