The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Arraignment to be held September 22
Three Gunnison County Detention Center employees were arrested Wednesday, September 2 after a nine-month Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into illegal activity at the jail.
Captain Michele Zadra, who has been with the department almost 20 years and is listed as the contact person for the jail on the county’s website, and Sgt. Melissa Rogers were arrested on suspicion of first-degree perjury, conspiracy to commit perjury, first-degree official misconduct and false reporting to authorities.
According to Gunnison County undersheriff Rick Besecker, neither Zadra nor Rogers have been terminated but both have been placed on administrative leave. They have surrendered the keys and passes that had given them access to the jail.
A third person connected with the jail, former deputy Tawnya Sponable, was also arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit perjury, first-degree official misconduct and conspiracy to introduce contraband, as well as false reporting, theft under $500 and possession of a schedule II controlled substance, according to the CBI.
All three were released from a Montrose County courthouse Thursday, September 3 on $5,000 personal recognizance bonds. An arraignment has been scheduled for September 22.
The court records have been sealed for 30 days, so few of the details of the allegations are known.
In a prepared statement, Besecker says, “I am the undersheriff of Gunnison County. In the United States, by the Constitution and laws I have sworn to uphold, an accused person is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. No one in the Gunnison County Sheriff’s Department, myself included, is above the law.”
Because the county’s jail is quite small, the arrests and subsequent loss of manpower has put a pinch on staff resources at the jail, but Besecker says the department is prepared to fill the gaps.
“It does impact us, but we’ll draw resources from patrol and other facets of the agency as well as from reserve,” he says. “We’ll manage it with some adjustments.”
He also says, “All along we try to educate our deputies through practical application of duties, but obviously when we get events like this it heightens awareness and brings renewed focus to the process of furthering the education and solidifying the knowledge and ethics,” of law enforcement.
Along with the arrests, the court issued a warrant for Joseph Stromayer, a 30-year-old inmate at the jail, who is suspected of introduction of contraband, conspiracy to introduce contraband, conspiracy to commit perjury, third-degree assault, intimidating a witness and conspiracy to intimidate a witness.
A warrant was also issued for Joseph Stromayer’s wife, Rachel Stromayer, who is suspected of conspiracy to intimidate a witness.
