Former Montezuma County Undersheriff Robin Cronk appears to have padded his experience as a law enforcement official.
According to his personal page on the social media site LinkedIn.com, Cronk reportedly worked as a reserve officer at the Albuquerque Police Department from March 2005 to August 2008, and served as a deputy with the Sandoval County Sheriff’s Department from February 2004 to August 2008. Neither agency, however, has a personnel file for Cronk.
“We reviewed the older files for reserves as far back as 2006 and could not find any information with the name Robin Cronk listed anywhere,” said Albuquerque Police Department Lt. Anthony Montano via email.
Montano added that personnel files from the reserve program had been transferred from the Albuquerque Police Department’s operations review division, and those records were no longer available.
Sandoval County Sheriff’s Office Cap. Michael Traxler said he is positive that Cronk was never a full-time certified deputy within his agency, but added that he has found records that indicate Cronk was issued department property as a reserve deputy. The agency, however, has no trace of any personnel records for Cronk.
“I looked through current and past personnel folders at the sheriff’s office and did not locate any files that belonged to Robin Cronk,” said Sandoval County Sheriff’s Office executive assistant Katherine Sanchez via email.
Cronk’s LinkedIn.com page was removed from the Internet last month just days after the Cortez Journal first reported that he had been placed on paid administrative leave as a result of a credit card investigation. Montezuma County Sheriff Dennis Spruell declined to comment on whether Cronk had been properly vetted prior to his hiring.
“You’re asking about personnel issues, and I won’t discuss personnel issues,” he said.
Within a week of the investigation being launched, Cronk resigned from the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Department. The probe into those misappropriated credit card funds remain under scrutiny by the Colorado Bureau of Investigations.
First as a deputy, Cronk worked at the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Department for approximately four-and-a-half years, and he was tapped as undersheriff following a civilian board interview process, Spruell said.
Within days of Cronk’s resignation, former Deputy District Attorney Linda Carter was hired to replace him as undersheriff.
Attempts to reach Cronk for comment were unsuccessful.
tbaker@cortezjournal.com