GREELEY, Colo.—A Weld County judge has ordered the destruction of tax documents in an identity-theft investigation led by District Attorney Ken Buck that the state Supreme Court ruled was illegal.
The Supreme Court had already halted the investigation in December 2009 but the Weld County ruling this week makes permanent an injunction that the lower court had entered. Weld County District Judge Stephen J. Schapanski ordered that the thousands of tax documents seized from a tax preparer be destroyed and barred authorities from using any of the information they gathered for any prosecutions.
The Supreme Court ruled the investigation violated the constitutional and privacy rights of suspected illegal immigrants.
Buck, who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate, didn’t immediately return a call left at his office for comment.
