On Friday, February 26, 2010, the Park County Sheriff's Office declined to accept a crime-related written statement from Denver Officer Michael Graves, Graves said in an interview with the Bulletin. Graves said that he consulted with the F.B.I. for advice on how to proceed before preparing the written statement for filing. After finishing the statement, Graves said that he forwarded a copy to his command staff in his department.

Officer Graves said that several people, who have remained off the record, had come to him with concerns about a case they worried had not been adequately pursued, in their opinions. The events allegedly occurred over a period of time in the last few years and involved alleged repeated sexual contact between a Park County deputy and a teenaged girl at a local high school where the deputy sometimes worked on duty.

Graves, who is running for Sheriff in the county, and Denver Officer Randy Wagner said they first stopped at the Bailey substation Friday morning where they attempted to deliver the written statement to a deputy. According to Graves, the Park County deputy they contacted in Bailey said that he could not accept the statement. Graves said that the deputy would not accept the document or assign it a case number and informed Graves that he would have to file the document with a supervisor. The deputy added that his supervisor was currently in Fairplay, according to Graves.

Graves and Wagner stated that they then drove to Fairplay to attempt to file the statement with the main office. Upon entering the Sheriff's Office building in Fairplay, Graves said he found the administrative staff unavailable. He was informed by a jail officer that the Sheriff's Office was closed and he would have to come back on Monday, Graves said. While preparing to leave the Fairplay offices, Graves and Wagner said that a Park County Sheriff's Corporal pulled up beside them in the parking lot. Graves said that he repeated to the corporal that he was trying to file a written statement and asked the corporal to take the statement. Graves and Wagner said that the corporal looked at the statement and responded, “Per my chain of command, I cannot accept this,” and told the officers that they would have to come back on Monday.

As a law enforcement officer, Graves said that state statutes require him to report the concerns and alleged events to appropriate agencies since the events appeared to involve a young student. He cites 19-3-304 C.R.S. He added that he was following policy directives from his department as well as clear requirements in the law when he attempted to bring the information to the Park County Sheriff on Friday. “I had a clear duty to report, as would any other law enforcement officer or teacher,” he said. Graves said that he was disappointed that the county Sheriff would refuse the statement.

Officer Graves said he was instructed by the F.B.I. to contact the Colorado Attorney General and that the Attorney General advised Graves to file a copy of the report with the local District Attorney's office. He said that he was also advised to follow up with attempts to file his statement with the Sheriff’s Department. Graves stated that he intends to go forward with that attempt, but that the report was also placed on file with other agencies.

“I was not looking for things to come to this,” Graves said. “Reporting this is just the right thing to do and I am left with no legal choice other than to file a written statement as a law enforcement officer.” When asked if he knew why they were refusing to accept the report, he answered that he didn't know.

Future public releases of documents and information are expected to provide more detail on dates and certain information surrounding the incident or incidents in question.

Sheriff Wegener did not return messages requesting comment at the time of publication. The Bulletin will continue to seek comment.

* Update at March 5, 2010:

Officer Michael Graves told the Bulletin today that he has now filed the statement referenced above with the Park County Sheriff's Office. He said that he drove back to Fairplay on Wednesday, March 3, 2010, and handed the written statement to a Park County Sheriff's Sergeant on duty at approximately 1:30 pm.

The Bulletin has still not received comment from Sheriff Fred Wegener as of the time of this update.