Sheri≠ held on bond, faces two felony charges
sterling» A judge on Wednesday set a $250,000 bond for Sedgwick County Sheriff Tom Hanna after he was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a developmentally delayed woman in his home while he was supposed to be transporting her to jail.
Hanna, 43, appeared in court Wednesday afternoon in Logan County wearing orange jail clothing and ankle and wrist chains. Prosecutors had asked 13th Judicial District Chief Judge Michael Singer to set Hanna’s bond at $500,000, saying the public’s trust had been compromised by his actions.
Singer also ordered that Hanna, who has been sheriff since November 2014, be tracked by GPS once he is released.
The judge assigned District Attorney George H. Brauchler of the 18th Judicial District and his office as special prosecutor in the case after Brittny Lewton, district attorney in the 13th district, requested the judge do so. She called Hanna’s arrest a “difficult case” given the number of times her office has worked alongside the sheriff.
“To say that this was awkward or uncomfortable would certainly be an understatement,” Lewton said.
Representing the 18th District in court Wednesday was Assistant District Attorney Mark Hurlbert. He addressed the public trust issue that the allegations against Hanna represent.
“What this definitely has done has violated this in the worst way,” Hurlbert told Singer.
Hanna, who faces a possible lifetime prison sentence on the felony charge of sexual assault, told the judge that he was arrested Tuesday at his office in Julesburg while dressed in “full duty gear” and surrendered peacefully. He said he is a Colorado native and has lived in Julesburg for six years and is not a threat to the community.
Hanna also told the court that he is in the middle of a divorce and has two foster children with his soon-to-be ex-wife. Formal charges are expected to be filed in the next 10 days. Hanna’s next court date is Sept. 16.
Sedgwick County Coroner Howard McCormick will take over as acting sheriff while Hanna’s case is adjudicated, Lewton said.
According to an arrest affidavit released Wednesday, the female inmate said the sheriff took her to his home and asked her if she wanted to make $60, saying, “I just want sex.”
After digitally penetrating her, Hanna told the woman: “This has to stay between us,” according to the woman’s account to an inves- tigator. “If it don’t, I’m gonna take you to prison for the rest of your life.”
Hanna is being held on suspicion of two felony offenses, including sexual assault on an atrisk adult and sexual conduct on a correctional inmate. Court records show he is also accused of first-degree official misconduct and soliciting prostitution, both misdemeanors.
“I felt like I was raped, to be honest,” the woman told the investigator. “And this has bothered me a lot, and it feels good to get it out because I’m telling the truth.”
According to the investigator, the woman didn’t realize she had been raped. When the investigator told her that she had been raped, the woman said: “Oh, my God, I didn’t know that,” and then began throwing up, according to the affidavit.
Hanna denied having sexual contact with the woman when interviewed by agents with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, saying he didn’t “know why she would say something like that,” the affidavit said. Authorities say he declined to take a polygraph test.
Hanna admitted taking the woman to his home to talk about crime information, which he called a “poor decision,” but said he was trying to make sure other people in the small town did not see her talking to him about sensitive information, the affidavit says.
After dropping the woman off at the Logan County jail, Hanna said he put $20 in her commissary because “he has a big heart and wanted to make sure (she) could call her brother,” the affidavit says.
The allegations against Hanna came to the attention of prosecutors and state investigators after one of Hanna’s deputies raised concerns about his interaction with the woman, the affidavit says.
Specifically, the deputy said he found it odd that Hanna was transporting the woman to jail in his personal vehicle, which is against department policy. The deputy said he became more worried when he saw Hanna’s personal truck parked outside the sheriff ’s home shortly after Hanna left to take the woman to jail.
The deputy says Hanna’s vehicle was parked outside the home for “at least 20 to 30 minutes,” according to the affidavit. Hanna was moved to the Weld County jail, where he is being held after his arrest on Tuesday.
Cpl. Matt Turner, of the Weld County Sheriff ’s Office, said Hanna is at the facility as a courtesy to authorities in Logan County, where he was initially jailed.
“I think the main reason for that was mainly for inmate safety,” said Lt. Joe McBride, of the Logan County Sheriff’s Office. “He would be housed with a bunch of other inmates from Sedgwick that he arrested. He basically would have been placed in the population with them.”
McBride says Logan County’s jail often hold inmates for Sedgwick, which has a very limited facility.
A joint investigation between the 13th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, which serves multiple counties in northeastern Colorado, including Sedgwick and Logan, and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation led to Hanna’s arrest.
Sedgwick County, in the northeastern corner of Colorado, bordering Nebraska, is 549 square miles with about 2,500 residents. Hanna’s office has three deputies.
Lewton told The Denver Post on Wednesday that she will probably review all the cases Hanna was involved in investigating.
“I have not had the opportunity to get to that stage,” Lewton said. “Once the advisement is complete and charges are filed, I will likely look into them.”
In court Wednesday, prosecutors told the judge that Hanna had been cited with a failure to appear on a traffic offense two decades ago. Hanna said he committed that offense when he was “young and stupid” and had since corrected his ways.
Hanna was ordered not to go within 100 yards of his old workplace and to not have contact with the victim or witnesses in the case.
Hanna is the second public official in the 13th Judicial District to face charges this month.
Sterling’s former fire chief, Kurt Vogel, was arrested, along with his wife, on accusations that he stole more than $120,000 from the city while leading its firefighting force. Vogel left the department in April to serve as chief of the Greater Eagle Fire Protection District.
Vogel is on administrative leave without pay from the Eagle County post.