Sheriff stripped of spending authority as money tensions boil over in a Colorado county

It's an unprecedented situation in Arapahoe County, where county commissioners have made a rarely seen decision in the Centennial State -- stripping the county sheriff of his spending authority, and even asking for a district attorney review.

Arapahoe County commissioners claim the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office secretly diverted more than $300,000 taxpayer dollars over the last two years.

The sheriff's office says its staff has done anything wrong, and they spent the money on critical items like swat gear and a bomb robot.

But one county commissioner says she feels betrayed.

"I was really sad," said Commissioner Leslie Summey. "We had an agreement. We had a contract. There's nothing within the four corners of that contract that says two checks."

She's talking about a legally binding contract between the Arapahoe County Commission, the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office, and the Cherry Creek School District, which was signed in early April 2023, but was effective as of January 1, 2023, according to language written in a copy of the contract obtained by CBS News Colorado.

The contract stipulated that Cherry Creek Schools would send $500,000 to the county budget in 2023, and again in 2024, to pay for school resource officers supplied by the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office.

But internal emails CBS News Colorado obtained through an open records request show sheriff's office leadership asked Cherry Creek Schools staff to "split" the $500,000 "into two checks" - one for $310,000 to the county budget, and the other for $190,000 to go to the sheriff's new nonprofit foundation, which was set up in December of 2022.

Summey alleges the ACSO set up the foundation in secret as part of a plan to divert the money away from the county commission's purview, so the sheriff's office could spend it more freely.

"The fact is that we had a contract that said this $500,000 goes every year into the county, and then the county gives it to the sheriff's department, and the sheriff's department decided something different was going to happen and did not feel it was necessary to inform anyone else," Summey said. "I'm not sure what the motivation was, but I know it was secret, because we didn't know about it until we started investigating in our finance office."

The emails obtained by CBS Colorado show one potential motivation.

In December 2023, a bureau chief at the sheriff's office emailed an administrator at Cherry Creek Schools saying: "can we do the same as last year? Two checks, one for $310 to the county and one for the remainder to the ACSO foundation? The county line item was $310 again so if it is any more than that, they will try and take it for the general fund."

The Cherry Creek administrator replied to the email writing, "sure we can do that."

But Summey says the sheriff's office shouldn't have worried about the commission taking the money away.

"We would never do that," Summey said. "I don't know about the relationships between those two entities. What I know is that we have a contract. We have grown people. We have elected people who have taken an oath to follow the laws and the statutes of Colorado, and that was not done."

A spokesperson for the Cherry Creek School District provided the following wirtten statement to CBS News Colorado: "While the IGA was being finalized, we followed the instructions given to us for payment. Our community demands and supports investing in safety. Cherry Creek Schools partners with multiple law enforcement agencies to provide SROs, training, and equipment to keep students and staff safe."

Summey claims the emails also illustrate how she believes sheriff's office staff lied when initially confronted by County Commission staff.

In fact, internal emails CBS News Colorado obtained show in November 2023, a staff person at ACSO denied to a county finance staff person the existence of more money to be sent from Cherry Creek in 2024.

"We have $310K in 2024 SRO Donations baselines," the ACSO accountant wrote to the county finance department in November 2023. "What amount are you referencing to?"

 However, the emails show in December 2023, a member of the ACSO leadership team emailed a Cherry Creek Schools staff member and asked: "When the time comes in January, can we do it like last year? Two checks, one for $310 to the countyand one for the remainder to the ACSO Foundation?"

In the months that followed into spring of 2024, more internal emails show how county finance staff further questioned the discrepancies.

"Here we go!!!" one sheriff's office captain wrote to his colleagues after an email confrontation exchange with the county's finance department in May this year.

Summey feels those written exchanges have not "matched up," explaining, "we have asked a lot of questions. We have gotten a lot of answers. Some of those answers do not match email correspondence that we have seen."

"The folks who enforce the law, if you can't expect them to be able to stay within their budget and to be honest about things in real time, then who can you trust?" Summey said.

The ACSO says the money was not spent on anything for personal gain, and sent CBS News Colorado an expense sheet showing all of the items purchased using the money that went to the foundation, including rifles and sniper accessories, gas masks, and tactical gear - gear ACSO says is critical for safe responses to any future school threats.

However, Summey says she especially takes issue with the more than $5,800 in attorney fees paid to create the nonprofit fund.

"I feel it was a waste of taxpayer dollars," Summey said. "I also feel it was deceptive."

As a result, this summer, in July, the county commission took a rare step, stripping the sheriff of his spending power - a move some independent law enforcement sources tell CBS News Colorado is legally questionable.

Asked if she believes the action was within the commission's legal scope, Summey replied, "absolutely, the Board of County Commissioners has a fiduciary responsibility to take care of the public funds."

The ACSO says the action could have serious negative consequences for how it serves the public.

"The profession of law enforcement is constantly changing course to meet the demands of the community; the removal of spending authority slows the process down and hinders the level of service we can provide to our community partners and residents," an ACSO spokesperson wrote to CBS News Colorado.

But Summey insists that processes will be in place to ensure the sheriff's office's spending needs are appropriately addressed.

"We rely on the experts in the field to tell us what it is that they need," Summey said.

The sheriff's office declined an interview with CBS News Colorado, but said in a written statement: "We do not agree with any of the BOCC's accusations and feel this is an attempt to distract the public from the County's mismanagement of taxpayer dollars and its inability to fully fund the Sheriff's Office."

The ACSO went on to say the county commission has repeatedly denied funding requests over the years, to the tune of $17 million dollars' worth of denied expenses from 2020 to 2023, and as a result, the sheriff's office says they're dealing "with an enormous shortfall."

The sheriff's office also maintains its staff had every right to ask for two checks, because it happened "before the agreement with the county went into effect."

Regardless, the sheriff's office says it has repaid the $190,000 diverted earlier this year, and says there's about $24,000 remaining from last year, which the sheriff's office says they're keeping until this dispute is resolved.

Asked when the commission might give back budgetary authority to the sheriff, Summey said, "that we have not talked about either.... right now, we are focused on exactly what is in front of us, and that is, are things being done appropriately? Are things being done within the law? And then we will reevaluate and say, 'here you go.'"

All of this comes as the county is facing a serious budget crisis.  

As Your Reporter in Arapahoe County Ashley Portillo and Political Specialist Shaun Boyd reported Tuesday, county commissioners even voted on a resolution to put a tax increase request before voters in the upcoming November election. 

The county government even spent $156,000 in taxpayer dollars to pay for a consultant to evaluate whether voters would have an appetite for such a ballot measure. 

County commissioners say the sheriff's office went the farthest over budget of any county agency last year – over by about $1 million. 

Jason Presley, the president of the police union in Arapahoe County, is standing up in support of the county's sheriff, sending CBS News Colorado the following written statement: "The Arapahoe Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 31 firmly stands behind Sheriff Tyler Brown regarding the recent accusations made against him by the Arapahoe County Board of County Commissioners. This attack on Sheriff Brown's character seems to be politically motivated from the Board of County Commissioners and an immediate effort should be made to start working together with Sheriff Brown and his leadership team to address more pressing issues that are currently occurring in Arapahoe County."  

Meanwhile, the county commission turned over their concerns to the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office, who in turn passed it on to the Denver District Attorney's Office for an independent review.

The Denver DA's office tells CBS News Colorado they are still reviewing what happened. 

The ACSO provided the following written statement in full to answer several written questions asked by CBS News Colorado about the concerns:

"For years, the Sheriff's Office has relied on donations to provide equipment and supplies to cover the needs of the schools and our community. We would not have our five school therapy dogs, six police K9s, the mounted patrol unit and crisis response equipment if it wasn't for the generous donations we receive from community members. 

The Cherry Creek School District offered its donation to the Sheriff's Office in the wake of events that were happening in schools across the country such as the Arapahoe High School shooting, the STEM School shooting in Highlands Ranch, the Uvalde shooting in Texas and many others, even going as far back as the Columbine High School shooting. 

When we respond to incidents at our schools, it's not just school resource officers who respond to a crisis, but deputies throughout our entire agency. We are the experts in providing safety within learning environments and we will never risk the safety of children over who is paying for these resources. Law enforcement needs the proper equipment, training and technology for crisis response. We need personal protective gear for our deputies so they're able to stay safe in dangerous situations. The training and technology, such as robots, are used to enter dangerous situations so human beings don't have to. 

The Sheriff's Office has built positive relationships and has the full support and trust of the Cherry Creek School District, our neighboring law enforcement agencies and the cities we serve such as the City of Centennial and the Town of Bennett. The only negative relationship we have is with the BOCC. 

The Sheriff's Office provided the County with an itemized list of expenditures for 2023 and we recognize there is still $24K left in that account. If the BOCC believes they should have control of it, then we'll return it. As of right now, $24K is on hold pending the outcome of the dispute resolution with the County, even though the check was given to us before the agreement with the County went into effect. 

The BOCC is fully aware where all the money given to the SO was spent and we have provided that documentation to them. We have also worked out the terms to address any future overspending from the budget and worked with the command staff and county finance."