DA requests state investigation of Edgewater police department
King says department “fraught with bullying ... bending of the rules”
Jefferson County District Attorney Alexis King on Thursday announced that her office has asked the state attorney general to open an investigation into the conduct of the Edgewater Police Department, an agency her office described as being “fraught with bullying, retaliation and bending of the rules.”
The request for a “pattern and practice” investigation comes on the heels of new charges levied this week against a former Edgewater police officer, Nathan Geerdes, accused of sexually assaulting a fellow officer, falsifying documents and retaliating against a witness.
A subsequent investigation found that, from 2016 to 2021, certain members of the 20- officer police department “may have violated the constitutional rights and privileges of individuals in Colorado,” the district attorney’s office said in a release.
In five instances, officers had “questionable authority to engage with a suspect and make arrests,” King wrote in a June 26 letter to state Attorney General Phil Weiser. Some of those incidents also involved police entering homes and using force, including Tasers, she wrote. Others included concerns over altered documents, evidence tampering and destruction of evidence during a questionable death investigation.
“I am aware of events that undermine the trust that is critical for public safety and our justice system, and as the district attorney for the First Judicial District, I believe that a pattern or practice review is a necessary catalyst for change, both for the community and the new chief of police, who has been fully cooperative with our investigation,” King said in a statement.
A 2020 law, Senate Bill 20-217, gave Weiser the authority to investigate a government agency for patterns of misconduct that violate state or federal constitutions or laws.
The attorney general has announced publicly only one other
pattern-and-practice investigation — a 2020 probe of the Aurora Police Department.
A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office, Lawrence Pacheco, said officials “are aware of the district attorney’s referral, and we’ll take it under consideration.”
Edgewater Police Chief Eric Sonstegard, who took the position in 2022 after the alleged incidents occurred, said he has been in regular contact with King’s office and would welcome working with the attorney general’s office during any potential inquiry.
“Allegations of bullying and retaliation — that’s completely unacceptable,” he said in an interview Thursday. “I would have never accepted that any time in my 33-year law enforcement career.”
A Jefferson and Gilpin county grand jury indicted Geerdes in December, accusing him of sexually assaulting a female officer in two incidents in 2019 after leaving a holiday party.
Prosecutors also accused the
officer of retaliating against a witness.
Geerdes, authorities said, was upset with another officer for “ratting him out” and falsifying information during the investigation, the district attoeney’s office said. He allegedly threatened to “ruin the officer’s career and go after the officer’s family.”
Prosecutors outlined a troubling response from higher-ups in the Edgewater Police Department after the woman reported the assault.
Directly after the Christmas party, the unnamed woman told another officer what happened, investigators alleged in the June 20 arrest affidavit. This person, though, didn’t report it to a supervisor until late summer 2020.
The allegations made their way to Cmdr. Mark Hamilton, who said he would “handle it,” authorities said. Hamilton failed to take any action, including declining to tell the chief. Chief John Mackey learned about the alleged assault from another officer and told Hamilton to look into it. Hamilton allegedly told investigating officers not to record the victim interview or pursue details related to the incident, prosecutors said.
Geerdes never faced any formal discipline, his arrest affidavit states.
Still, leadership told him in March 2021 he could resign from the Edgewater force or otherwise be fired.
But that’s not what Geerdes told other metro police departments as he applied for new jobs, prosecutors alleged in the arrest affidavit.
The former Edgewater officer, in applications and interviews with five Colorado law enforcement agencies, denied leaving the department as a result of any disciplinary measures, court documents show. He allegedly told the hiring teams that the female officer had tried to kiss him at a Christmas party and put her hand on his leg in an Uber.
Geerdes also lied about receiving a written reprimand for not reporting the incident, prosecutors alleged. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Arvada Police Department and RTD Transit Police Department all noted discrepancies in his answers and elected not to hire him.
In September 2021, the Black Hawk Police Department hired Geerdes. The police chief, Mi
chelle Moriarty, told investigators that Edgewater brass, including Mackey, highly recommended Geerdes, calling him a “great, great officer.” They said he left the department under an “unfortunate circumstance,” prosecutors said.
After authorities announced the initial charges in December, Moriarty fired Geerdes and asked King’s office to investigate the previous Edgewater administration. She accused the leadership team there of downplaying and withholding information about Geerdes’ suspected assault and omitting or removing files. ( Mackey left the department in 2021; his Linkedin page states he sits on the leadership council for the University of Colorado’s Center on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.)
“I wouldn’t have hired this person,” Moriarty told investigators. “I feel deceived.”
A resulting probe found Geerdes allegedly forged official documents pertaining to the five Colorado law enforcement agencies, prosecutors said.
The district attorney charged him June 22 with five additional counts of attempt to influence public servants.