COLORADO SPRINGS — Two pending settlement agreements for claims filed against former El Paso County Sheriff’s Office employees were approved Tuesday.
The proposed settlements for Cliff Porter and Wendy Habert, current sheriff’s office employees, are the third and fourth to come in front of the county commissioners.
The latest agreements total $120,000 and were unanimously approved by commissioners.
With Tuesday’s approval, the totals paid out as a result of claims against former Sheriff Terry Maketa and other former sheriff’s office employees have surpassed $300,000. That is in addition to more than $400,000 in fees paid for financial and personnel investigations and for three commanders put on paid leave last year.
The settlements for Porter, $35,000, and Habert, $85,000, have different conditions.
The settlements come while the Colorado Bureau of Investigation continues a criminal investigation into the former sheriff. The CBI began investigating Maketa after 4th Judicial District Attorney Dan May requested assistance in reviewing information regarding the former sheriff in June 2014.
The request came after complaints were filed by three sheriff’s commanders in May 2014 with the county and the federal Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission. Maketa was accused of sexual impropriety, discrimination, removing almost all oversight of the sheriff’s annual budget and creating a hostile work environment.
Commissioners launched an investigation the day after the complaints were filed. That month they asked Maketa to resign and gave him a vote of no confidence. In total, nine notices of complaints for $3.9 million were sent to the county.
Maketa was found to have mishandled internal affairs investigations along with former Undersheriff Paula Presley. He also had inappropriate relationships with three female subordinates resulting in special treatment and offered an endorsement to a candidate for sheriff in exchange for personal favors, according to an investigation.
