A former Larimer County Sheriff’s deputy claims in a federal lawsuit that he was fired because he ran against current Sheriff Justin Smith in the 2010 election.
Jay Harrison also alleges Smith retaliated against him because he talked about starting a police department in the northern Larimer County town of Wellington.
The suit filed in U.S. District Court names Smith, the Larimer County Board of Commissioners and Undersheriff William Nelson as defendants.
Harrison alleges they violated his 14th Amendment rights to due process by not giving him adequate notice of their intent to fire him. The suit also says the defendants trampled his First Amendment rights of free speech and freedom of association.
Smith said Monday that because Harrison’s dismissal was a personnel matter, he couldn’t commit on it.
“We obviously deny the claim,” Smith said. “The county is in the process of preparing its response. And since this is pending litigation, we are not at liberty to comment on any details.”
According to the suit, once Smith won the election, his relationship with Harrison changed dramatically.
Before Smith was sworn in, he “told then-Sheriff James Alderden that he wanted to get rid of (Harrison), that (Harrison) was disloyal and had been ‘badmouthing’ the department and the sheriff to officials of the town of Wellington,” the suit said.
Alderden looked into Smith’s allegations and found they had no merit, the suit said.
The town of Wellington, about 30 miles south of the Wyoming border, contracts law-enforcement services from the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office. Before the election, the suit said, Harrison had been approached by other Larimer deputies preparing a proposal for the Wellington Board of Trustees to consider creating a police force, the suit said.
Harrison, a resident of Wellington, e-mailed the mayor about the idea, the suit said. However, Harrison did not participate in a Jan. 11, 2011, Town Board discussion about creating a police department. He also did not attend a February meeting where the proposal was presented by other Larimer deputies.
But on Jan. 31, 2011, Harrison was told he was the subject of an internal investigation into allegations of “disloyalty, alleged violations of standards of conduct and alleged violations of (the department’s) rules of conduct regarding confidential information and personal advantage,” the suit said.
On March 18, Undersheriff Nelson told Harrison he was was being fired for communicating with Wellington and for promoting a local police force for the town, the suit says.
Harrison was hired as a sheriff’s deputy in April 1996 and served in that capacity until he was fired.
A similar lawsuit by former Adams County Sheriff’s deputy Mark Nicastle resulted in Nicastle winning a $730,000 settlement from the county in August. Nicastle claimed current Sheriff Doug Darr used a series of unjustified internal investigations and a demotion to try to stop Nicastle from running against him for sheriff.
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
