The Adams County on Friday asked Treasurer Alex Villagran to resign his post, alleging that he engaged in “inappropriate behavior involving multiple county staff members.”
An investigative report obtained by The Denver Post says Villagran was accused of conduct that included sexually suggestive remarks, touching and inappropriate gestures.
In a news release Friday morning, the county said the independent investigation confirmed that Villagran, a Democrat who was elected as treasurer in 2022, had engaged in a “consistent pattern of inappropriate conduct.” But officials did not provide details about what was alleged against him.
The allegations against Villagran come just four years after his predecessor in the office, Lisa Culpepper, was sued by the county commissioners for what they said was shoddy and delinquent bookkeeping by the treasurer’s office. A year later, Culpepper lost a write-in election effort to remain as treasurer.
Villagran won that election and took office on Jan. 1, 2023. The current commissioners are all fellow Democrats.
The Post obtained a copy of the investigative report, which was conducted by Flynn Investigations Group, through an open records request. It outlined a series of sexually suggestive remarks and behaviors that female county employees said Villagran had made toward them, including “mimicking sex by pumping his arms and pelvis” and adjusting a female employee’s bra strap when it had fallen off her shoulder.
Another employee said Villagran had spoken to her about his troubled marriage and how he had no sex life due to his wife going through menopause, according to the report. She claimed Villagran told her that her “husband will ‘need to be patient’ with her during menopause.”
Villagran was also accused of looking “women up and down,” hugging them, touching their shoulders and lower backs, and taking video of women getting married in the lobby area of the county building, the report stated.
Other employees said the treasurer had a habit of standing uncomfortably close to them when talking to them, the report says.
The report concluded that Villagran “more likely than not” made “unwelcome and objectively offensive remarks of a sexual nature to Adams County employees.”
Lynn Baca, the chair of the board of commissioners, issued a statement on Friday addressing the matter.
“We are deeply disappointed with this situation,” she said. “However, Adams County remains committed to a safe and respectful environment for employees and visitors alike.”
Baca didn’t respond to a request for comment from the Post. Villagran’s office referred all questions to the county’s public information officer.
In a response to the county from Villagran’s attorney that was included in Flynn’s report, the attorney wrote that his client “denies much of what is alleged and asserts that he has never treated any employees of his office or of other offices in Adams County differently in any manner based on the sex of such employee.”
The attorney’s name was not included in the report.
The attorney wrote that Villagran had been struggling with a separation from his wife after 23 years and that it had “affected his work and demeanor.” The attorney’s email also said Villagran had “physical limitations and cultural differences that may be perceived as other than what they are or are intended to be.”
That included the treasurer standing close to people when he spoke to them, in order to properly see and hear them, the attorney wrote.
Late Friday, Colorado Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib and Adams County Democratic Party Chair Beckie Bean released a statement asking Villagran to resign.
“We agree with the Adams County Board of County Commissioners and join them in ordering Treasurer Villagran’s resignation,” the two party leaders said. “Our party does not tolerate inappropriate workplace behavior from any elected official. We must serve the people with the highest level of integrity and dignity.”
As an independently elected official, Villagran can be removed from office only through a recall election or at the next regularly scheduled election. He has a year left in his term.
Villagran is the second Adams County treasurer in a row to raise the ire of the commissioners.
Several months after the county sued Culpepper, a Democrat, in late 2021 over claims of financial mismanagement, the county’s finance director said a communication breakdown with Culpepper’s office was jeopardizing her ability to complete a required annual audit. Without it, the director said, state officials could have withheld millions of dollars in property tax proceeds and “possibly bring county operations to a halt.”
A monthslong battle ensued over who should pay Culpepper’s legal bills in her fight with Adams County, culminating in a trip to the Colorado Supreme Court in the fall of 2022. The state’s high court ordered Adams County to cover her legal costs and said refusing to do so amounted to an “abuse of discretion.”
In their Friday news release, the Adams County commissioners said Villagran had so far refused to resign but had agreed to a “strict protocol ensuring all county employees feel safe, supported, and heard.”
“He has complied with these requirements,” the commissioners wrote.
