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July 31, 2014 09:40 AM UTC

State Sen. King Charged with 3 Felonies & 2 Misdemeanors

  • 27 Comments
  • by: IndyNinja

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

THURSDAY POLS UPDATE: In a press release this morning, Colorado Ethics Watch calls on Republican Sen. Steve King to resign from the Colorado Senate.

Yesterday, Senator Steve King (R-Mesa County) was indicted on three felony and two misdemeanor charges related to alleged theft of public funds and falsification of records. Today, Colorado Ethics Watch calls on him to resign from the Colorado Senate.

According to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the 18th Judicial District Attorney's office filed a criminal complaint against Sen. King, alleging that he wrongfully took between $2000 and $5000 from the Mesa County Sheriff's Office and Colorado Mesa University, both part-time employers of Senator King. The article also states that the District Attorney is investigating Senator King for other possible criminal violations.

Although Senator King is not seeking re-election, he remains the Chair of the powerful Legislative Audit Committee. The Committee is scheduled to meet twice more before Senator King's term ends. [Pols emphasis]

"The people of Mesa County deserve better than a Senator facing felony charges for embezzlement from public entities," said Luis Toro, Director of Ethics Watch. "Senator King should step down immediately and allow a replacement to serve the remainder of his term."

—-

Sen. Steve King (R).
Sen. Steve King (R).

Grand Junction seems to have really poor luck with elected officials

The complaint alleges King defrauded the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office and Colorado Mesa University of $2,000 to $5,000 between July 2013 and December. The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported Wednesday that no affidavit explaining the basis for the charges was filed.

Today, in a turn of events not altogether unforeseen by political observers, State Senator Steve King was charged with a series of crimes related to apparent irregularities in outside work that he did during his time in the legislature. 

As ColoradoPols initially reported earlier this month, King was being paid for three different government jobs simultaneously. King was fired from the Mesa County Sheriff's office early in the summer for allegedly falsifying timecards. As the extent of the questionable behavior became public, King withdrew his candidacy for Mesa County Sheriff. Now, DA George Brauchler has filed a series of charges which include felony counts of embezzlement of public property, forgery and theft. He also was charged with misdemeanor counts of forgery and official misconduct.

Comments

27 thoughts on “State Sen. King Charged with 3 Felonies & 2 Misdemeanors

  1. It is difficult to come to any conclusion other than there are some serious shenanigans happening in Mesa County, where the good-old-boy network keeps getting caught with their hands in the various public cookie jars that they have sworn duty to safeguard on the citizens' behalf.  The likelihood is that it has been going on for decades.  I think the state and perhaps the federal government needs to launch an investigation.  My prediction is that Steve King is the smelly tip of a malodorous iceberg.  

    1. There is a chance this year to get rid of a bit of that iceberg…and a whole lot of stench. The Dems have some well qualified candidates running for the house and senate.  Only thing is, they have some uphill battles raising enough money to combat the huge bankroll of the Rethugs.. Claudette Konola for Senate (www.konolaforcolorado.com), Brad Webb, for House Dist. 54 (http://bradwebb2014.com/, and Chris Kennedy for HD 55 (www.kennedyforcolorado.com/

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  2. I'm not an attorney but I am curious what those who are think?

    Summary[edit]

    Under RICO, a person who has committed "at least two acts of racketeering activity" drawn from a list of 35 crimes—27 federal crimes and 8 state crimes—within a 10-year period, if such acts are related in one of four specified ways to an "enterprise," can be charged with racketeering. Those found guilty of racketeering can be fined up to $25,000 and sentenced to 20 years in prison per racketeering count. In addition, the racketeer must forfeit all ill-gotten gains and interest in any business gained through a pattern of "racketeering activity." RICO also permits a private individual harmed by the actions of such racketeers to file a civil suit; if successful, the individual can collect treble damages(damages in triple the amount of actual/compensatory damages).

    1. Unfortunately, Hollywood probably won't see the inside of a jail cell. It's more likely they'll extract a guilty plea to a felony, thereby destroying his ability to make any kind of living in the cop/security world, and pile on a ton of community service.

      I wouldn't lose any sleep waiting for him to resign his Senate seat. It's the only meager paycheck he has left.

       

  3. Finally! The scale and scope of ct's thinking begins to match the seriousness of the corruption in Mesa County.

    The RICO idea is intriguing because it's how a network is investigated. It doesn't make sense to stop looking into the matter now that Steve King has been found out (and not for the first time — another reason to think "RICO"). That would be like filing charges against only one member of a drug ring, or looking for the individual who fired the rocket that hit a passenger plane.

    Bullets are being sweated all over the Western Slope this morning.

  4. I actually feel a little sorry for King. (As you know I ran against him in 2010, and am seeking that seat in this year's election.) We tried to alert the voters about his double dipping at a Club 20 event. When called on it, he was prepared, probably because of blogs by Ralphie. He pulled out of his pocket and showed me a pay stub from his congressional job, and indicated that it wasn't enough to support his family. I was so flabbergasted that I had no intelligent retort. Stealing from constituents aparently was okay because the voters voted for him even after all of that was exposed. Later, when he had his wrists slapped after an ethics complaint, our local newspaper quoted him as saying it was a relatively minor mistake. If, at that time, a mentor had taken him aside and suggested that he clean up his act, he might have listened and gotten his dream job of sheriff. Now he is out of a job, and those people who should have been mentoring him are busy throwing him under the bus. Evidently Republicans eat their own rather than nurturing them.

  5. The malodorous stink of the King affair, and the likelihood (and expectation) that it is but the wift of a much larger rot, has caused not only those on the left to cast aspirasions, but also the sundry flakes on the right.  The Country-Clubbers and Good-Old-Boys kept King propped up just long enough to get him though the Primary, which has those wh wer going to take over the world via another soverign sheriff steamed, so it will be interesting to see exactly in which configurations the wagons circle.  

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