A high-ranking Greeley-Evans School District 6 administrator arrested Dec. 22 on assault charges resigned Tuesday.
According to the arrest affidavit, Paul Urioste, 45, has a large gambling debt and suffers from mental and neurological illnesses.
“This is just sad for everybody involved,” said district spokesman Roger Fiedler.
Urioste was arrested Dec. 22 after allegedly hitting his wife and barricading himself in his home, causing the Greeley Police Department SWAT team to respond.
The report says Urioste, who was on paid administrative leave from the district, where he served as director of elementary education the past two years, threatened suicide in his west Greeley home after taking an unknown amount of prescription drugs and punching his wife in the middle of her back.
Urioste’s wife and their 4-year-old son left the home during the incident. The couple filed for divorce in November.
Urioste held one of the top three administrative positions in the district and had an annual salary of $102,613.
Urioste’s wife told police her husband was seeing a Department of Veterans Affairs counselor, who believes Urioste suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Urioste served in the National Guard and was deployed to the Middle East during the Persian Gulf War.
Reports say Urioste has gambling debts near $300,000 and suffers from Parkinson’s disease and depression; he takes several medications for both.
