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An internal affairs investigator with the Denver Sheriff Department (DSD) claims he was fired after blowing the whistle on higher-ups in the department who allegedly tried to cover up alleged “inhumane” and “degrading” treatment of an inmate by deputies.
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Brent Miller, an internal affairs investigator with the Adams County Sheriff’s Office assigned to help clear the DSD’s backlog of internal affairs cases, was fired earlier this month. He believes he was dismissed because of corruption allegations he made against DSD’s interim head, Elias Diggins, and Capt. Paul Ortega, who leads the department’s internal affairs bureau, Denver’s CBS4 reported.
An internal affairs investigation has since been launched against Diggins and Ortega after Miller’s allegations came out, according to CBS4’s report. Miller, who was investigating several complaints of inhumane treatment by police against inmate Christopher Colbruno, said the pair’s cover-up was the “definition of corruption.”
In one of the complaints Miller investigated, Denver Health Medical Center staff alleged that police made Colbruno walk naked through the hallways of the hospital. Hospital cameras recorded the incident, and Miller later obtained the footage.
Miller claims that Ortega later approached him and told him to destroy the tape.
“He asked me if I had uploaded this video yet and I told him I had not and told me, ‘Good, don’t do that because they’re making that go away, it’s not going to be a case anymore,’” Miller told CBS4.
“I immediately told him that’s notethical to get rid of evidence in a case,” Miller added, saying he refused to destroy the tape and instead gave it to another investigator.
Miller said Ortega agreed, but reaffirmed, “That’s the way it is.”
The Denver Sheriff Department did not immediately respond to VICE News’ calls for comment Monday.
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