A grand jury on Friday indicted five Costilla County Sheriff’s officers, including the sheriff, undersheriff and the sheriff’s son, on several felony charges, after the 12th Judicial District Attorney’s office launched an extensive investigation into residents’ reports of misconduct.
The indictment includes allegations over mishandling human remains that were stored inside a used paper grocery bag and using excessive force against a Costilla County resident who was suffering a mental health crisis.
The district attorney’s probe into the sheriff’s office is ongoing. Authorities are continuing to review complaints, signaling that more findings or potential charges could emerge from the case.
“The District Attorney’s Office is committed to investigating and prosecuting violations of Colorado law, regardless of who the offender is and what title they hold,” the office said in a statement Friday.
“Our community expects our law enforcement officers to perform their duties with integrity and adherence to the law. Restoring and maintaining public trust must always start with accountability.”
Sheriff Danny Sanchez and former deputy Keith Schultz each face five counts of official misconduct and one count of abuse of a corpse after authorities say they mishandled unidentified human remains found in the Wild Horse Mesa, near San Luis, the Costilla County seat.
After a resident reported finding a skull and teeth on their property in October 2024, Sheriff Sanchez and Schultz retrieved the skull but never came back for the rest of the remains, including teeth that are now lost, according to a grand jury indictment.
The sheriff responded to the call but “was only on scene briefly and was reported to be more interested in looking for arrowheads than investigating the human remains,” a witness told investigators.
Schultz allegedly put the bones in a used paper grocery bag, rather than a plastic bag used for forensic evidence, and left them unsecured on his desk while he left on another call, the indictment said. The bag did not have any labels identifying its contents or seals to protect the integrity of the evidence.
The county coroner said the sheriff’s office did not contact them until after the remains were collected. State statute that says remains must not be removed until the coroner arrives as significant information can be gleaned from seeing the remains as they were found.
While the sheriff’s office marked the case as closed, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation was later called to collect evidence, including a distinct necklace and pendant.
Other sheriff employees testified and called the investigative efforts on the case “far below the standard of care” and the loss of dental evidence as “egregious,” the indictment said.
Stemming from a separate incident in February, Undersheriff Cruz Soto, Dep. Roland Riley, and Sgt. Caleb Sanchez, who is the sheriff’s son, were indicted on several counts of assault and failure to intervene for their involvement in excessive use of force on a man suffering a mental health crisis.
Soto and Sgt. Sanchez met the man at his house after he reported that his wife and children left in a truck earlier that day and were missing, the indictment said. The man was holding a hunting arrow to his neck and appeared to be suicidal.
After two hours, Sgt. Sanchez convinced the man to drop the arrow and come to the sheriff’s office.
Shortly after, a witness said they saw the man leaving the sheriff’s office. He was not making any aggressive actions toward the officers and should have been allowed to leave, but Sgt. Sanchez and Riley fired their Tasers several times at the man, breaking his rib, the indictment said.
No one at the sheriff’s office conducted a use-of-force investigation or referred the incident to an outside agency to conduct such an investigation, despite officers’ duty to report excessive use of force by other officers within 10 days, according to the indictment.
When the district attorney’s office requested documents on the situation more than a month later, the office found neither Soto nor Sgt. Sanchez had documented the incident.
According to the grand jury indictment, which included transcripts from body camera footage and testimony from use-of-force experts, the man committed no crime, was never told he was under arrest, was given no warning that he was not free to leave and that Sgt. Sanchez’s use of force was unjustified.
Sgt. Sanchez and Riley each face two assault charges, according to the indictment. Soto faces nine charges, including third-degree assault and failure to intervene.
All five officers are scheduled to appear in court April 1.
The Costilla County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately return a request for comment.
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