Saratoga police officer arrested

An officer with the Saratoga Police Department (SPD) is currently on suspension after having been arrested by the Carbon County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) on February 9 based on allegations he threatened CCSO deputies attempting to execute a search warrant. 

SPD Chief Ken Lehr has publicly questioned the arrest and the investigation.

According to an affidavit of probable cause filed with the Circuit Court of Carbon County, Brown is being charged with felony threatening an officer, interference with a peace officer and two counts of vicious dog at large. All four counts come in relation to two separate bite incidents involving one of Brown's K9 dogs, Shaw. Authorities say the threats came during the investigation and when deputies contacted Brown to confiscate the dog.

Late Thursday evening, the Town of Saratoga issued a statement regarding the arrest in an email.

"The Town of Saratoga is aware of the incident involving Officer Brown and the Carbon County Sheriff's department," read the statement. "We are taking these allegations very seriously and Officer Brown has been suspended from the Saratoga Police Department pending further investigation and review."

Already suspended

Brown first came to the SPD in June 2021 from Trinidad, Colorado. A month later, he and his wife, Amanda, purchased a kennell just outside Saratoga for the purpose of kennelling and training both domestic and K9 dogs. While with the department, the number of drug arrests in Saratoga drastically increased as evidenced by police reports published in the Saratoga Sun.

Brown had been suspended from the department as early as January 17. He was notified of the suspension in a letter dated January 14.

"During the period of suspension, you are restricted from all areas of the Saratoga Police Department and Saratoga Town Hall," the letter read. "You are not to perform any work for the Saratoga Police Department during this period of suspension."

The letter went on to state the disciplinary action was based on Brown's failure to cooperate with CCSO in an investigation surrounding two bite incidents with Shaw. 

The letter also read "You failed to cooperate in connection with the CCSO's attempt to serve a search warrant and remove K9 Shaw from your property on December 31, 2021. I understand that you made threats to the CCSO deputies who were attempting to execute the search warrant that evening and posted derogatory comments about them on social media."

While the letter appeared to have been intended to come from Lehr, it did not include his signature. Another letter, dated January 27, did include his signature.

"That first one that showed up that I didn't sign is because I told the town attorney 'I don't totally agree with what's in the letter. You guys put my name on it' and she got a little irate because I wouldn't do it," said Lehr in an interview with the Sun. "The second one, I went through there and redid it myself on the department letterhead and then I signed it and she was not really happy because I did that."

Lehr went on to state he believed the whole thing had turned into a "witch hunt". He compared it to getting bit by his own dog, stating "Is the sheriff's office going to come out here and dump six deputies on my porch?"

"There are a lot of other, more serious issues than a dog bite in this county and they're piling all this time and money for a dog bite," Lehr said. "Justin probably should have used a different choice of words when he told them they couldn't take that dog. That's why he's in this predicament now, is because he used the threatening words against the deputies and told them they're not going to take the dog."

The Sun reached out to Mayor Creed James regarding Lehr's characterization of the investigation and arrest. Saying he was unaware of the context of the comment, James stated he did not have any comment.

Hearing postponed

Prior to Brown's arrest on February 9, he was scheduled for a pre-termination hearing before the Saratoga Town Council. In a letter dated February 2, Justin Brown was informed the hearing would be held at a special meeting in executive or private session unless he requested it be held as a public hearing.

The Sun had not received notification of this special meeting or public hearing prior to Brown's arrest. According to the letter, Brown's pre-termination hearing was to be held on February 16. Brown informed the Sun he had requested it be rescheduled, which it had been, for February 11. 

On February 10, the Sun asked if a special meeting was indeed scheduled. A town official confirmed the special meeting. Town of Saratoga. Later that day, the Sun also received verbal notification of the hearing's postponement with no rescheduled date as of press time. James informed the Sun on Monday morning the Town of Saratoga had intentions to notify the Sun of the special meeting on Thursday afternoon, until they were made aware of Brown's arrest.

"We were going to notify Thursday afternoon, then have it on Friday afternoon," said James. "Then, we heard he was arrested and retained legal counsel so we have to give him more time."

The first bite

According to the affidavit of probable cause completed by CCSO Sergeant Ben Opfar, the first bite incident involving Shaw occured on July 23, 2021. In the affidavit, Opfar wrote he had been asked to respond to Memorial Hospital of Carbon County (MHCC) by CCSO Deputy Casey Lehr to assist and investigate Shaw accidentally biting Brown's daughter.

Upon arriving at MHCC, Opfar observed deep wounds on the hip of Brown's daughter with one measuring approximately five centimeters long and the other seven centimeters long.

In the interview conducted with both Brown and his spouse, Amanda, Opfar was informed Brown had been exercising Shaw during a break from moving into their house outside Saratoga. It was at this time their daughter ran after a ball being used by Brown to exercise Shaw. He told Opfar he believed Shaw saw his daughter chasing the ball and redirected his focus to her.

Brown made a similar statement in a January 1 interview with the Sun.

Opfar wrote in the affidavit he had directed Brown to quarantine Shaw from interacting with people for at least 10 days. Additionally, neither Brown nor Amanda wished to surrender Shaw or have him put down.

The second bite

Nearly five months later, the second bite incident involving Shaw occured when the K9 dog bit Amanda on December 19 at approximately 9:22 a.m.

According to the affidavit completed by Opfar, CCSO Deputy Zachary Burns had received information from CCSO dispatch regarding the second bite as part of mandatory reporting procedures by MHCC. The affidavit also stated that by the time the information had been received, Amanda had returned to Saratoga.

The bite had required a total of 18 stitches, with 16 of them external stitches and two internal.

In his January 1 interview with the Sun, Brown maintained the report came following an exchange of text messages between Amanda and Saratoga dispatcher Alyx Munson. According to the affidavit, however, the report came from Nurse Robert Border, who told CCSO he was instructed to do so by Emergency Room Supervisor Daniel Starr.

Starr is also a part-time officer with the Saratoga Police Department, according to the department's web page on the Town of Saratoga website.

According to Brown, he had been on the phone with Amanda while she was at the hospital and when a nurse asked if the bite should be reported, the attending physician stated there was nothing to report as it was owned by Amanda.

This is confirmed in the text messages between Amanda and Munson. After sending a photo of the bite to Munson with confirmation it was Shaw, Munson told Amanda the dog would be destroyed.

"They said it's my dog so my discretion," wrote Amanda. "I didn't do anything to him. He came in from outside was fighting with Hibbs (Hobbs) through the fence I stood behind him at his tail and kinda coached him on to his kennel."

Amanda continued, writing "He went in and turned around and lunged at my stomach. I pushes (pushed) him back with my left hand into his area and he jumped up and grabbed my right sleeve. I pulled his collar and tried to take him off my shirt but he went in for a bigger bite and latched on."

Amanda further informed Munson she had grabbed Shaw by the throat and dragged both the K9 dog and herself back to the house for help, where both Brown and his partner, Megan, were. She added she wasn't sure what she would have done if Megan had not been home.

According to the affidavit, Opfar was provided screenshots of the text exchange between Amanda and Munson by CCSO Sergeant John Moore on December 20. Moore is listed as a part-time SPD officer on the department's web page.

While the affidavit states Amanda had been prescribed antibiotics and was given a tetanus shot, in the exchange between herself and Munson she stated she was going to "take a muscle relaxer and I'm sure pass out".

The investigation begins

Opfar wrote in his affidavit he had attempted to make contact with Amanda regarding the incident the same day but was unsuccessful. Opfar requested CCSO dispatch contact Saratoga dispatch regarding the vaccination status of Shaw, with the latter informing CCSO dispatch the K9 dogs were not owned by SPD. The Saratoga dispatcher also stated she was unaware of any contract for either Shaw or Brown's other K9, Hobbs.

At around 6:20 p.m., Opfar contacted SPD Sergeant Tyler Christen, who stated while there was a contract for Hobbs, he was unaware of one for Shaw. Lehr told Opfar he was unaware of any agreements with the Town of Saratoga for Shaw, the affidavit states.

A post on the "TYR K9's Boarding & Breeding of Working Shepherds and Malinois" Facebook page dated September 14, 2021 stated Shaw had his first night "on the streets" and had made a drug bust as well. TYR K9 is Brown's secondary business raising and training shepherds and malinois.

Additionally, in a January 1 interview with the Sun, Brown said Shaw had made 20 drug arrests in his time with the Saratoga Police Department. Trading cards were printed featuring Shaw and associating the K9 dog with the Saratoga Police Department.

Christen informed Opfar that Brown and Amanda had separated and she was now living in Saratoga town limits. Opfar drove to Saratoga hoping to speak with Amanda, but was again unsuccessful. In text messages between Amanda and Megan, using Brown's phone the day of his arrest, Amanda stated CCSO "hadn't contacted me other then (sic) trying to call me which I kept ignoring".

The affidavit noted CCSO Deputy Patrick Patterson spoke with Amanda regarding the dog bite on December 22.  In the text exchange between Amanda and Megan on February 9, the former denied Patterson had approached her on that date.

"I didn't talk to anyone until after Xmas sometime," wrote Amanda. "I don't know what day it was!"

Patterson is also listed as a part-time officer for the SPD on the department's web page.

At approximately 8:46 p.m. on December 19, Opfar attempted to make contact with Brown. At first unsuccessful, a second attempt was successful moments later. According to the affidavit, Opfar informed Brown he was there to obtain vaccination records for Shaw regarding the July 23 incident. While there, Opfar asked about the incident earlier that day with Amanda. Brown stated it wasn't Shaw which had bitten Amanda, but a younger Malinois named Liberty.

In a January 1 interview with the Sun, Brown stated he had lied to Opfar in order to "protect" Shaw due to the incident on July 23. According to the affidavit, when Patterson spoke with Amanda on December 22 she told the CCSO deputy it was Shaw that bit her and not Liberty.

Text messages between Brown and Amanda dated December 31 show the two discussing the potential consequences for Shaw. After Amanda asked Brown if CCSO was trying to take Shaw, Brown told Amanda "...you need to talk to them and say you meant it was like Shaw's bite and you were hopped up on medicine."

This text exchange appears to have occurred the same time Opfar was attempting to execute a search warrant for Shaw with the help of CCSO deputies Willis, Maloney and Patterson, and Christen. 

As the officers attempted to execute the search warrant on December 31, Opfar contacted Brown using Christen's phone. According to the affidavit, during the conversation, Brown told Opfar if anyone came to take his dog he would "break [their] neck", adding there wasn't anyone in the entire county who could "take him".

First appearance

Brown will make his initial appearance in the Circuit Court of Carbon County on March 23 at 2:30 p.m. He is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. If convicted, he could face up to 11 years in prison and a fine of $6,400. The Saratoga Police Department is currently operating with three full-time officers, including the chief.