Denver sheriff’s sergeant keeps job despite conviction

A Denver sheriff’s sergeant will keep his job despite pleading guilty last year to misdemeanor charges of cruelty to animals and reckless endangerment of a child after investigators found filthy conditions at his house.

Sgt. Joshua Frank was not sentenced to jail time for the crimes and won’t serve any discipline from the sheriff’s department as long as he doesn’t break any rules for the next year, records obtained by The Denver Post show.

Deputies with the Adams County Sheriff’s Office responded to Frank’s home on Nov. 29, 2017, for a welfare check.

Deputies found a filthy home where three dogs lived in cages in the basement, surrounded by feces and urine, according to an Adams County report. Deputies also found a decomposing cat in the back seat of a car in a garage.

The home smelled like feces, urine and rotten food. Children in the home appeared healthy, but one child said they sometimes didn’t have food and didn’t have sheets for their beds, according to the report. Dirty diapers lay on the kids’ bedroom floors.

Frank said the main water line for the house had been broken for a week and he hadn’t been able to wash dishes or clean, though deputies noted the mess appeared as if it had been there longer. Frank said the dogs had been living in the basement cages for about a year, the report said.

Adams County prosecutors charged Frank with five counts of child abuse and three counts of cruelty to animals, all misdemeanors. He pleaded guilty on Nov. 2 to one animal cruelty count and one count of reckless endangerment. All other charges were dismissed.

Frank’s sentence included a fine of $922 and 60 hours of community service. If he breaks the law again in the next year — or any of the rules the court created for him — he could serve 12 months of probation.

At the sheriff’s department, Frank will serve no immediate suspension. If he violates another rule in the next year, however, he will serve a four-day suspension for the convictions.