DENVER (KDVR) -- The third and final person accused in a training records fraud scheme out of the Adams County Sheriff's Office has pleaded guilty and was sentenced last week in the matter.
Former Adams County Sheriff's Office Division Chief Michael Bethel pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Dec. 20 for his part in a law enforcement training records scheme that allowed him to claim credit for state-mandated training he did not complete.
Bethel was charged in the scheme alongside former Adams County Sheriff Rick Reigenborn and former Undersheriff Thomas McLallen, both of whom pleaded guilty and were sentenced earlier this year. The trio were accused of signing various training rosters for classes they did not attend and submitting training certificates to the Colorado Peace Officer Standards and Training organization.
Bethel pleaded guilty to one count of felony forgery and two misdemeanor counts of second-degree forgery and first-degree official misconduct. He was sentenced to serve 24 months in a deferred sentence on the forgery charge and to serve a concurrent 24-month probation sentence for the misdemeanor charges. He was also ordered to pay $1,000 in fines and complete 100 hours of community service.
Additionally, Bethel is required to relinquish his state peace officer certification and will not be eligible to be a law enforcement officer in Colorado. He was also ordered to write a letter of apology to the Adams County Sheriff's Office and to Colorado POST.
According to prosecutors, the Adams County leadership was trying to count the training toward the required 2021 annual training hours. Officers in Colorado are required by POST to complete at least 24 hours of annual in-service training, which includes 12 hours of perishable skills like training in arrest control, driving and firearms.
"Law enforcement officers have an obligation to complete important training as a requirement of maintaining their certifications. For those who fail to do so, and who defraud the state about meeting those requirements, there must be consequences. Our department is committed to holding accountable those officers who undermine the trust in the profession and violate the law," said Attorney General Phil Weiser, who also serves as the chair of the Colorado POST Board as POST is a unit of the Criminal Justice Section of the Colorado Attorney General's Office.
If POST discovers the law enforcement agency was out of compliance with the board's rules, due to their officers failing to complete the required annual training, the state board could retract grant funding to the agency.
A state law that was passed in 2020 authorizes the attorney general to enforce violations of POST training standards and allows the attorney general to impose fines or bring criminal charges if the violation was found to be intentional.