Colorado youth detention officials have suspended a staff member amid a state investigation into the death last month of a 16-year-old at a Greeley youth services center.
Leadership at the on Oct. 25 placed the staffer on paid administrative leave pending an investigation “concerning professional conduct and allegations of introducing contraband into the youth center,” according to a copy of a letter obtained by The Denver Post through an open records request.
That investigation remains ongoing, said Anders Jacobson, director of the , which runs Colorado’s 14 youth detention and commitment facilities.
“We don’t operate on sympathy,” Jacobson said in explaining how his agency handles allegations of wrongdoing by staff. “We operate on the allegation.”
The Post is not identifying the staffer because he has not been cited for wrongdoing or charged criminally in the case.
The Division of Youth Services did not acknowledge an investigation into the staff member when contacted by The Post last week about the teen’s death.
The suspension came four days after a teen housed in the facility was hospitalized after being found unresponsive in his room. Personnel administered naloxone, a medication that reverses opioid overdoses, and performed CPR. He died Nov. 4.
Internal state incident reports reviewed by The Post show an unnamed party reported to facility leadership shortly after the incident that the staffer allegedly provided “percs” — a street name for Percocet, a highly addictive opioid-based painkiller — to the same youth who later suffered the medical emergency.
The staffer identified in the discipline letter could not be reached Thursday for comment.
The Division of Youth Services has not said how the teen died. While the incident reports reviewed by The Post don’t refer to the incident as an overdose, there were indications narcotics were involved.
The Weld County coroner has not yet ruled on the cause and manner of the teen’s death.
Jacobson acknowledged that youth detention centers are “not immune to illegal drugs,” but said the division regularly consults other states and jurisdictions to implement best practices to keep narcotics out.
“(The Division of Youth Services) has by and far less illegal drugs than the local public school system, private school, the neighborhood bar, on down the line,” he said in an interview Thursday.
Updated 12:30 p.m. Dec. 13, 2024: This story has been updated to correct the number of state-run youth detention and commitment facilities in Colorado.
