ALAMOSA — On July 9, District Attorney Anne Kelly appeared before the Costilla County Commissioners and dropped a bombshell, detailing serious professional, ethical and legal concerns about conduct and operations at the Costilla County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO).  

With CCSO deputies, Undersheriff Cruz Soto and Sheriff Danny Sanchez present in the room, Kelly described an office that was functioning far below even the most basic standards required of a law enforcement agency. 

Kelly cited details about body cams that had been turned off – a violation of Colorado state law; the careless handling of evidence, including firearms and photos that were crucial in the prosecution of criminal cases; police reports that, despite numerous requests, were not turned into the DA’s office for as long as five months and only received after the DA issued subpoenas; and allegations of CCSO using drugs and aiding drug dealers.  

Two weeks after the meeting, the Valley Courier followed up with Kelly to get her thoughts on the presentation and what impacts it may or may not have. 

“I expected the meeting to be in executive session, but it was open to the public. They were even taping it,” Kelly told the Vally Courier. “I was very surprised, but I’m glad they did. When I was elected, I made a commitment to be transparent and ethical. The public needed to hear what I had to say.” 

Kelly said her primary goal has always been to work with CCSO to improve the way they get evidence to the DA.  

Always a strong advocate for law enforcement, Kelly thinks the DA’s office has a good, collaborative relationship with every other agency in the Valley. 

“But, for whatever reason, [CCSO] has been resistant to our efforts to help and assist them. I don’t know if that’s a conscious decision on their part, but it certainly feels like that to me,” she said. 

Kelly’s primary concerns relate to evidence and police reports. The DA’s office has been working with CCSO for 18 months, she said, helping them with their report management system. They also began documenting the emails they’d sent CCSO asking for information, reports and discovery. Many of those emails were ignored. 

“We’ve had numerous conversations with Sheriff Sanchez and Undersheriff Soto, and they said it was a workload issue. I understand that. All of us in the Valley deal with funding shortages and workload issues. We have a tough job,” Kelly said. 

But, she said, it’s not hard to get a system going where evidence is documented and stored in a space where you know where it is.  

“You need a closet and a refrigerator to keep your DNA swabs in, and that refrigerator can’t be used for anything else. That’s it. They just need a closet and a refrigerator because, frankly, they don’t need that much space for the evidence they’re collecting. This should have been taken care of a long time ago,” she said. 

When asked if the sheriff and undersheriff appeared to be concerned about the situation, Kelly hesitated. 

“Their concern should have been evident when, five months ago, I let them know we’re going to be systematically dismissing cases and letting the judges and victims know why. That should have been a wake-up call, and it wasn’t,” she said. 

Kelly estimates that, in the past couple of months, she’s dismissed 15 to 20 criminal cases.  

Small law enforcement agencies often struggle with funding to get in compliance on all sorts of things, she said. 

“But I’ve never seen something on this scale when we’ve offered resources to assist but there’s still no improvement. In fact, it’s gotten worse, which is why I decided to take it to the commissioners,” Kelly said. 

Kelly said she has been communicating with Sheriff Sanchez but “we consistently get communication back from Cruz Soto.”  

After Kelly finished her presentation, it was Undersheriff Soto who addressed the commissioners, stating that funding was the problem as well as staffing and a lack of space to store evidence.  

When asked if she believed a lack of resources was the primary problem, Kelly said no. The problem is integrity, which she defined as a commitment to seeking justice, to a fair and transparent process and to upholding the rights of criminal suspects that they are investigating. 

Kelly felt the commissioners were gracious and open to listening. Her statements, at least at this point, appear to have sparked some action on their part. For example, the DA’s office is currently having regular meetings with a representative from the commissioners’ office and CCSO to prioritize the things that need to be fixed.  

“Right now, there’s a willingness to structurally change so the issues can be addressed, and I’m really hopeful for that. This is definitely a wait and see. But I’m very optimistic that the sheriff’s office will accept our assistance and work hard to change what’s going on and face the challenges,” Kelly said.  

If that doesn’t happen, she said, there are some steps that she can take, and she “will cross that bridge” if it comes to it.  

“The reality is I can’t do much because the sheriff is an elected official. From a legal perspective, I can’t force a change. But I can decline to charge cases out of that county. I don’t want to do that but I need to see some substantial change,” she said. 

In response to a request for comment, Sheriff Sanchez sent the following statement to the Valley Courier.  

“The Costilla County Sheriff’s Office has historically struggled with retaining patrol deputies. Costilla County is the lowest-paying law enforcement agency in the Valley. This has put us in a situation where we have had to hire employees who are not desirable. Employees who have worked with other law enforcement agencies and have had issues that caused problems within the department. These issues followed and leaked within our department. In turn, this situation has led to issues between the Sheriff’s Office and the District Attorney's Office. 

“We are currently extremely understaffed, which places a heavy burden on the few supervisors we have. This has caused issues with paperwork as we struggle to keep up with the current workload. To address these issues, we will be making adjustments to the department's staffing. 

“The budget restraints we struggle to overcome hinder our ability to acquire the necessary equipment to perform our duties. We have recently received approval to transition our body camera system from Visual Labs to Axon, which should alleviate the issues we are currently experiencing with sending body camera footage to the District Attorney's office. 

“We are currently working with the District Attorney's Office and have made adjustments to our existing policies to ensure proper protocol is adhered to. We have been meeting with the District Attorney's Office and have agreed to have frequent meetings to address any ongoing issues. We have established an information-sharing program to facilitate the mainstreaming of any future problems. 

“We have met with the BOCC and are working on updating our evidence room and evidence custodian. 

“I would also like to address mandatory training hours. All deputies are required to complete 24 hours of training annually. Twelve of those hours must be perishable hours, including driving, firearms, and arrest control. All officers have until the end of December to complete these hours. Again, with current budget restraints, we are unable to send deputies to in-person training or struggle to find staff to cover shifts for free training. If any officer is not compliant, I receive a call from P.O.S.T. compliance officer Bob Baker to ensure that officers enter the required hours. 

“We have proposed a salary increase for the deputies to help with our retention issues.”