Durango – The tactics of the Southwest Colorado Drug Task Force are receiving rare public scrutiny after an officer’s alleged sexual misconduct with an informant resulted in the dismissal of her felony drug case.
The district attorney and La Plata County sheriff say it was an isolated instance, but a Durango criminal defense attorney says the episode is part of a pattern of abuse by officers given free rein to run undercover drug operations.
Eric Sanford, a former deputy district attorney, said he didn’t feel comfortable prosecuting task-force cases because he didn’t believe narcotics officers operated ethically. Now, as a defense attorney, he said, his frustration is mounting.
“My clients are drug addicts. I expect them to lie to me. But after hearing the same stories over and over from people who don’t know each other, the stories gain credibility,” said Sanford, who worked in the DA’s office from 2000 to 2003. “They are taking away people’s rights.”
Deputy State Public Defender Suzanne Carlson filed a motion April 27 accusing the task force of “outrageous governmental conduct” that violated the rights of her client, Leslie Parker, to an attorney and due process.
After Parker’s arrest in June 2003 on charges of felony possession of methamphetamine, Parker was told she would go to prison for six years if she did not help the drug task force over the next year or two, Carlson told the court.
But if Parker would gather evidence for the task force, then “officers would make her case disappear.” Parker was told she could not contact an attorney or the deal was off.
A few weeks after Parker signed a contract as an informant, Carlson said in her motion, sheriff’s investigator Tom Fritzell approached Parker outside a bar and asked her if he could go to her home. She agreed because “she thought he would help her more if she agreed to his request.” They later had sexual intercourse, Carlson said.
Fritzell denies he had sex with Parker, attorney John G. Clancy said Tuesday.
During Parker’s last drug purchase with the task force, officers exposed her as their agent despite their promise to protect her cover, Carlson said. And the possession charges against her were not dropped.
“The conduct of officer Fritzell by engaging in sexual relations with Ms. Parker, who was subject to criminal charges at his whim, was an abuse of his authority, and potentially criminal conduct,” Carlson told the court.
As a result of the accusations, Parker and Fritzell recently took polygraph tests. Parker passed the test, Carlson said. Authorities would not comment on Fritzell’s result. His employment with the Sheriff’s Office was terminated May 17.
District Attorney Craig Westberg said he then supported Carlson’s motion to dismiss the case in late May.
“We’re not going to permit inappropriate conduct,” he said. “This agent crossed all kinds of lines, not criminal lines, but ethical lines.”
Sanford said he told the district attorney two years ago of the sexual relations between Fritzell and Parker. Westberg said he didn’t act then because, when he questioned Fritzell, he believed the officer’s claim that he had only kissed Parker.
“All drug work is unpleasant and based on deception,” Westberg said. “I have seen police tactics (elsewhere) that are truly repugnant. I do not find what this task force does, with the exception of Tom Fritzell, to be repugnant.”
La Plata County Sheriff Duke Schirard said the task force was created to deal with the enormous problem of methamphetamine distribution, and the drug requires different tactics. He said the Fritzell case is the only incidence of misconduct by the task force. He promised a thorough investigation of any allegations. But, he said, he also guarantees more tough action.
“My jail is full of people who were strung out on meth, which is a crime, and they created other crimes to support their habit or because they were irrational,” Schirard said. “In the 10 1/2 years I’ve been sheriff, every murder and attempted murder except one has been mixed up with meth.”
Staff writer Electa Draper can be reached at 970-385-0917 or edraper@denverpost.com.
