Sheriff Of The Year Patrick J. Sullivan Sent To Patrick J. Sullivan Prison For Exchanging Gay Sex For Crystal Meth

The police arrested Mr. Sullivan, now 68 and long retired from the Arapahoe County sheriff’s office, on charges that he had been trying to exchange methamphetamines for sex with a man. He was booked that night at a local county jail that proudly bears his name. LMAO! Locked up in a jail that is named after you is to funny. Click below to find out more.

Patrick Sullivan was the kind of lawman Coloradoans loved: a straight-shooting Republican sheriff who once crashed a Jeep through a fence to rescue two deputies from a gunman and pleaded with legislators to keep assault weapons off the street lest any more citizens get shot.

On Tuesday afternoon, though, investigators from the same sheriff’s department he oversaw for nearly two decades found themselves monitoring a home near Denver that Mr. Sullivan was seen entering.

Soon after, the police arrested Mr. Sullivan, now 68 and long retired from the Arapahoe County sheriff’s office, on charges that he had been trying to exchange methamphetamines for sex with a man. He was booked that night at a local county jail that proudly bears his name.

“The Arapahoe County sheriff’s office is saddened, and this is a sad time for our community,” said Grayson Robinson, the current sheriff, who served under Mr. Sullivan. “But we have a greater purpose, to serve our community with integrity and professionalism, and that’s exactly what we’ve done with this investigation.”

Sheriff Robinson said the police began an investigation into Mr. Sullivan’s activities on Nov. 17 after several people informed the authorities that he might be involved with methamphetamines.

The investigation led the police to a home on Tuesday where they say Mr. Sullivan had arranged to provide drugs to a man, a longtime associate, in exchange for sex. Mr. Sullivan was taken into custody without incident, Sheriff Robinson said.

According to a probable cause statement filed in court on Wednesday morning, two confidential informers told the police that they had engaged in sexual activity with Mr. Sullivan before, in exchange for methamphetamines or cash.

Word of the arrest shot through Arapahoe County, a sprawling suburban area near Denver, where Mr. Sullivan served as sheriff from 1984 to 2002.

“I just cannot believe this happened,” said Robert R. Gallagher Jr., a former district attorney for the 18th Judicial District in Colorado, which includes Arapahoe County. “This is not the Pat Sullivan I served with and respected so much. Something here doesn’t meet the eye.”

Steve Ward, a former state senator and past Arapahoe County commissioner, said he, too, was stunned by the news.

“It’s like waking up and reading a headline that says ‘Scientists Have Now Determined the Earth Is Flat,’ ” he said. “It’s incomprehensible.”

Mr. Sullivan, whose dramatic rescue of his deputies in 1989 was captured on television, was named national Sheriff of the Year in 2001 and became a widely respected law enforcement figure here.

After the Columbine High School shooting near Littleton and his retirement, he became director of safety and security for the Cherry Creek School District, a position he held from 2002 to 2008.

“We are absolutely stunned at the news of Mr. Sullivan’s arrest and are fully cooperating with the Arapahoe County sheriff’s office,” Mary Chesley, the district’s superintendent, said in a statement.

Mr. Sullivan will face charges of “unlawful distribution, manufacturing, dispensing or sale of a controlled substance,” punishable by up to six years in prison. Sheriff Robinson said he anticipated that additional charges would be filed.

At an initial court appearance on Wednesday, a judge raised Mr. Sullivan’s bond to half a million dollars from $250,000 at the urging of the local district attorney’s office. Sheriff Robinson said the request was made because of the nature of the accusations and the continuing investigation.