Costilla County Sheriff Danny Sanchez failed to investigate skeletal human remains found in the southern Colorado mountains, allowed a deputy to collect the person’s skull in a used paper grocery bag while leaving other evidence behind and never followed up on the case, according to a grand jury indictment released Friday.
Sanchez and four of his employees, including his son, were indicted on a slew of felony and misdemeanor charges for separate incidents between 2024 and February, court records show.
The 12th Judicial District Attorney’s Office announced the indictments on Friday afternoon after an “extensive” and ongoing investigation, agency officials said.
“My office fully supports law enforcement in the San Luis Valley,” District Attorney Anne Kelly said at a briefing Friday night. “But in order to support these honorable and brave men and women, I cannot and will not ignore violations of the trust a community should have in their police.”
Sanchez, 63, and former Deputy Keith Schultz, 45, are each charged with one count of abuse of a corpse, a felony, and four counts of official misconduct for their mishandling of human remains found near Wild Horse Mesa in 2024, roughly 4 miles north of the New Mexico state line.
Undersheriff Cruz Soto, 42; Sgt. Caleb Sanchez, 25; and Deputy Roland Riley, 31, are facing charges in a separate case after witnesses said Sanchez and Riley deployed their Tasers on a man experiencing a mental health crisis as he was trying to walk away, breaking one of his ribs. The encounter was also captured on their body-worn cameras.
The district attorney’s office began investigating the claims against the Costilla County Sheriff’s Office in August after a man called the DA’s office about finding possible human remains on his property on Wild Horse Mesa, 10 miles south of San Luis.
The man had contacted the sheriff’s office on Oct. 2, 2024, and met Danny Sanchez and Schultz at the property, he told investigators. The sheriff “was reported to be more interested in looking for arrowheads than investigating the remains,” according to the indictment.
Schultz put the person’s skull in a used paper grocery bag, rather than a plastic forensic evidence bag, and the pair left without collecting other evidence, such as dental work, clothing and additional remains. Schultz then lost track of the skull after putting the bag on his desk and going on another call, and the sheriff later told him he had moved it.
Neither Schultz nor Danny Sanchez returned to the man’s property or investigated the case, according to the indictment. When contacted by the DA’s office, sheriff’s officials said “the case was closed and they expended no further efforts or resources regarding those unidentified human remains.”
After the Colorado Bureau of Investigation was called on investigate the case, cadaver dogs found other human remains at the scene, but investigators were not able to find the dental work that Schultz and Danny Sanchez had left behind.
The second round of indictments stems from a Feb. 3 encounter between officers and a man experiencing a mental health crisis, according to the documents.
Caleb Sanchez, who is the sheriff’s son, and another deputy responded to a man’s house after he called 911 about his wife and children leaving in his truck and going missing. When the officers arrived, the man was holding a hunting arrow to his neck and making suicidal statements.
The deputy and Caleb Sanchez were able to convince the man to come to the sheriff’s office to talk about a possible job as a jail deputy. But when the man started walking away from the building after Caleb Sanchez tried to convince him to go to the hospital, Sanchez and Riley used their Tasers to stop him.
After the man fell face-first on the pavement and started screaming, Soto, the undersheriff, got on top of him and handcuffed him as Riley and Caleb Sanchez yelled “You had your chance! You’re going to get it again,” witnesses told the grand jury.
The man was unarmed, did not threaten officers, was not under arrest and was not suspected of a crime when he tried to leave, according to the indictment.
Caleb Sanchez, Riley and Soto never reported the incident to the sheriff and the agency never opened a use of force investigation. Cruz and Sanchez did not file reports on the incident until March 16, three days after the district attorney’s office requested information about what happened.
Soto is facing charges of failure to intervene, official misconduct and misdemeanor assault, according to the DA’s office. Riley and Caleb Sanchez are charged with felony and misdemeanor assault.
All five men turned themselves in on Friday and were expected to post bail, Kelly said Friday evening. Four of the five are still employed at the agency. The indictments cannot be used to remove an elected sheriff, she said.
There are still unindicted deputies working in Costilla County, Kelly added, and county officials may also request the CBI and Colorado State Patrol to help patrol the area.
“No citizen of the San Luis Valley should have any doubts of the integrity of their police force,” Kelley said. “This office is not afraid to defend that trust.”
