I Shot Up the Sheriff

Disgraced ‘sheriff of the year’ who traded meth for sex gets 15 months in prison

by Isabelle Khurshudyan/Washingtonpost.com

The tables have turned on Patrick Sullivan. Once nationally lauded for his anti-drug crusades, the former sheriff admitted to a drug problem and was sentenced to 15 months in prison for repeated probation violations in a meth-for-sex case, the Denver Post reported.

The 71-year-old, a one-time national sheriff of the year, missed 36 urine tests and tested positive for methamphetamine or alcohol 10 times in more than two years of probation, his probation officer told reporters. Chief District Court Judge William Sylvester went so far as to call the number of missed and diluted urine samples “extraordinary.”

Sullivan pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine and solicitation of a prostitute in 2012 after an undercover sting was set up by his gay lover and another man. The sting revealed Sullivan was trading meth for sex and led to his arrest in 2011. The arrest followed a 911 caller’s report months earlier that Sullivan was at his home trying to get three recovering addicts back on drugs, according to the Associated Press.

During an extensive interview with Colorado deputies in 2012, Sullivan admitted to smoking meth, giving a man a “date-rape” drug before taking advantage of the man sexually, according to the Denver Post.

In an interview with deputies, Sullivan said he was bisexual and admitted to smoking meth but not injecting it. Sullivan was one of the most vocal critics of the meth epidemic in the 1990s.

Sylvester told reporters Sullivan had opportunities to rehabilitate. Probation officer Hallie Miller told reporters his attempts at reform were disingenuous as he often made excuses for his behavior, once blaming a positive test on a neighbor drugging him at a barbecue.
“He sees himself as above the law,” Miller said.

Sullivan was seen as a hero in 1989 after he rescued two deputies during a gunman’s rampage, according to the Associated Press. His record was so distinguished the National Sheriffs’ Association named him its top sheriff in 2001. He continued overseeing security for a school district even after he resigned, and the Arapahoe County jail was named after him.

I’m just about sick of seeing hero cops besmirched by witch hunts like the one that took place in Arapahoe County. Patrick Sullivan had one of the toughest jobs known to man and he performed admirably. So when he’s not on the clock he likes to ease the tension with some recreational meth and bisexual date-rape. Small price to pay for the safety of 600,000 Coloradans. Instead Sullivan was set up by those he trusted most, meth addicted gay prostitutes. Who can you trust these days if you can’t trust a meth addicted gay prostitute?

P.S. What kind of school district hires a guy accused of trading meth for sex and rape? I’m sure some sex offenders are readying their applications.