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Meth-For-Sex Charge Lands Former Sheriff In Jail Named For Him

Former Arapahoe County Sheriff Patrick Sullivan in court on Wednesday (Nov. 30, 2011).
RJ Sangosti
/
AP
Former Arapahoe County Sheriff Patrick Sullivan in court on Wednesday (Nov. 30, 2011).

Charged this week with trying to trade methamphetamine for sex with a man, former Arapahoe County (Colo.) sheriff Patrick Sullivan is now sitting in jail.

More specifically, he's being held in the county's Patrick J. Sullivan Jr. Detention Facility. That's right. It's named after him. His bail has been set at $500,000.

The Denver Post writes today that Sullivan's arrest, after "a transaction monitored by deputies working with a confidential informant" and a month-long investigation, has "sparked shock — even bewilderment — among longtime law officers."

Sullivan, 68, is "a law enforcement legend" in Colorado who served six terms as sheriff before retiring in 2002 and was known as "Hollywood Pat," the Post says. It writes that "in one incident in 1989, he sped his Jeep into the line of fire to rescue a wounded deputy, then roared backward through a fence in a bold escape captured by television cameras."

Denver's KUSA-TV has a video report here.

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Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.