Law enforcer in drugs for sex scandal

The Havre, Mont.-born Sullivan began his law enforcement career in 1962, when he worked as a police dispatcher. Later, he was a chief Army counterintelligence agent and, in 1979, joined the sheriff's office.

He earned a reputation as an engaging, business-like law enforcer who recognized emerging trends, such as drunken driving in the 1970s, before politicians started passing laws.

Sullivan was appointed sheriff in 1983 and earned commendations, including for the rescue of two wounded deputies in which he crashed an unmarked Jeep through a fence to protect them in a shootout.

Sullivan, named top sheriff in 2001 by the National Sheriffs' Association, resigned in 2002 to become chief of security for Denver's Cherry Creek School District. Sullivan retired in 2008, and stayed out of the limelight until this year, when a 911 caller said on Sept. 20 that an "old man" was at his house and might have been trying to get three recovering addicts back on drugs. 

How he went from being voted the nation's sheriff a decade ago to getting bailed out of Patrick J. Sullivan Jr. Detention Center, the prison facility that bears his name, has perplexed many in affluent Arapahoe County, where he served for decades.

"It's just hard to imagine," said Lance Clem, a state public safety department spokesman who worked with him since the 1970s. "This does not make sense."

Sullivan, who is married with two grown children, has not entered a plea. His attorneys declined comment.

Investigators also are trying to answer, for example, whether he was involved with drugs while he was sheriff and what exactly he knows about a 27-year-old man he knew who was found dead in a freezing river this year in Denver.

ORIGINAL SOURCE
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