While under investigation for alleged misconduct, the first drug recognition expert hired by the Montezuma County’ Sheriff’s Office was officially relieved of his duties Saturday, according to Sheriff Dennis Spruell.
Spruell said he launched an internal review of Sgt. Darrin Harper’s personnel file about six months ago, and he decided last week that changes were needed within the county’s top law enforcement organization. Upon returning from a personal 30-day vacation on Saturday, Harper was informed that he is no longer employed with the sheriff’s department, Spruell said on Monday.
“I’m trying to clean up my agency,” Spruell said during a near 40-minute interview with the Cortez Journal last week. “I’m trying to do things right. If we get a bad egg, then I want to get rid of them.”
District Attorney Will Furse sent a letter to Spruell and other local and state authorities on July 29, stating his office would no longer use Harper’s testimony in criminal proceedings. Furse confirmed that allegations of Harper’s misconduct are under current investigation by the district attorney’s office, but he declined to comment further.
Spruell also declined to comment about whether Harper had been disciplined under his command, stating the matter was a personnel issue, but he said Harper’s actions as a deputy have not been illegal, immoral or unethical. He did, however, describe Harper as “cocky.”
“I don’t like cocky,” the sheriff said.
According to Spruell, Harper was repeatedly instructed that he had to file better written reports. For example, written reports must include the probable cause that leads to an arrest, a procedure that Harper continuously failed to perform, Spruell explained.
“He’s not breaking the law,” Spruell said. “He’s just writing horrible reports. It’s poor performance.”
According to court records, questions regarding Harper’s police work date back to at least June 2012, when a defense attorney requested that Harper’s personnel file be admitted in a drug distribution case that originated in October 2011. The defense claimed that Harper broke the suspect’s driver-side window and delivered palm heel strikes to the defendant’s jaw to forcibly remove the citizen from a vehicle, court records reveal.
Although Spruell admitted that a judge once admonished Harper to “stop his witch hunts,” the sheriff claims the drug case dating back to the fall of 2011 was the first time that Harper’s conduct in the line of duty was brought to his attention. The 2011 case, however, was not the first time Harper had been questioned about his conduct.
According to media reports discovered during a Google search, Harper was forced to resign just a year earlier from the Cottonwood Police Department in Arizona in order to avoid termination for misconduct. During that previous employment, September 2010 media reports show Harper was the subject of nine internal affairs investigations, four of which were determined to warrant disciplinary action. Those infractions included violating Fourth Amendment privacy rights while conducting an illegal search and improperly monitoring telephone calls between a suspect and a lawyer.
Spruell claims he was unaware of Harper’s misconduct with the Cottonwood Police Department prior to his hiring date as a deputy with the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office in July 2011.
“I review everything, but if it’s not given to me, then I don’t see it,” he said. “Had I had that information previously, I don’t know if I would have hired him or not.”
According to Spruell, former Undersheriff Robin Cronk made the decision to hire Harper. Spruell said last week the selection was made with a “wink and nod” between the two former employees.
Cronk, who was forced to resign in June due to an ongoing credit card scandal, also chose to promote Harper to sergeant in February 2012, Spruell said. At the time of the promotion, Spruell maintains he was still unaware of any misconduct by Harper.
Despite the agency’s hiring procedures, Spruell said Harper’s release is in no way connected to fallout from the credit card scandal, which resulted in felony embezzlement and misdemeanor misconduct charges filed against Cronk last month.
“[Harper] did some stupid bonehead things by not filing his reports correctly,” Spruell maintained.
According to Spruell, no other deputies have the proper training to serve as the agency’s next drug recognition expert. The sheriff said he hopes to fill the position, but no decisions have been made.
tbaker@cortezjournal.com