A 22nd Judicial District judge on Monday gave a defense attorney two weeks to gather information to back up his allegation that an Arizona man was wrongfully removed from a Montrose community corrections program.
Jacob A. Kotarski, 22, appeared in court on Monday for a resentencing hearing on two separate drug cases. He pleaded guilty in May 2017 to possession of a controlled substance and was sentenced to one year of probation. He was later arrested on new charges and pleaded guilty to distribution of a controlled substance in August 2018.
His sentence of probation has been modified three times, according to court records. In October, 22nd Judicial District Judge Todd Plewe sentenced Kotarski to 12 months at the ATC Montrose community corrections facility, which allows defendants to serve time outside of jail or prison and allows them to get a job.
Kotarski was transferred to the ATC Montrose community corrections facility on Nov. 20, 2018. That facility then filed termination paperwork and a petition to resentence Kotarski on Jan. 11, 2019.
In court on Wednesday, defense attorney Kenneth Pace made a record that he believes Kotarski was removed from the facility based on false information. He said the director of ATC Montrose terminated Kotarski based on new crimes, but Pace said Kotarski has not yet been charged with a new crime.
Deputy District Attorney Jeremy Reed said he had been informed that the 7th Judicial District Attorney in Montrose intends to prosecute Kotarski for identity theft. He said there are charges pending that allege Kotarski was “substantially involved” in credit card theft.
Sherry McKenzie, public information officer for the District Attorney’s Office for the 7th Judicial District, confirmed to The Journal on Tuesday that the Montrose County Sheriff’s Office has sent a pending case to the district attorney for review and charging. Nothing had been filed in court as of Tuesday.
“I can’t tell you much more because it has been submitted to us, it’s still under investigation and it’s with our district attorney to review and make a charging decision,” McKenzie said.
Pace stated in court that he believes there is “one bad actor” at ATC Montrose who has been using the names of several other people at the facility in a fraudulent credit card scheme. He said there might be as many as eight individuals who have been wrongly removed from the facility. He asked Plewe for more time to look into those allegations.
Plewe said he would not provide Pace with an evidentiary hearing to argue the merit of Kotarski’s removal from ATC Montrose, but said he would give Pace two weeks.
Earlier in the court proceedings, Plewe cut Pace off as the defense attorney was describing how he believes his client has been denied due process.
“Mr. Pace, you need to stop,” Plewe said.
Plewe stated that Kotarski’s case has been handled exactly by the process the Colorado General Assembly has established for such cases. He said the director of ATC Montrose has the authority to terminate anyone from the facility. That individual would then be returned to the county where he was charged for a resentencing hearing.
“Period. End of story. That’s it,” Plewe said.
Pace maintained that he believes the director of ATC Montrose removed Kotarski on false information. He asked for two weeks at which point he would argue to resentence Kotarski back into community corrections.
Plewe granted a continuance to Feb. 11.
sdolan@the-journal.com