Brown terminated by Saratoga Town Council

Three months after the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) attempted to execute a search warrant for a K9 dog owned by Justin Brown, the Saratoga Police Department (SPD) sergeant has been officially terminated by the Saratoga Town Council.

Brown had initially been placed on suspension from the department effective January 17 per a letter from the SPD dated January 14.

The decision came following a 90 minute special hearing open to the public and an hour long closed session. An announcement of the special meeting on March 1 was provided to local media more than 24 hours in advance.

The hearing, which had originally been scheduled for February 11, had been postponed following Brown’s arrest on February 9 for two misdemeanor charges of vicious dog at large, a misdemeanor charge of interference with a peace officer and felony threatening an officer. The latter two charges come in relation to the attempted execution of a search warrant on the evening of December 31.

Brown made no comments during the hearing, which included two witnesses; SPD Chief Ken Lehr and CCSO Deputy Ben Opfar. Questioning of the two witnesses came from Jane France, legal counsel for the Town of Saratoga, H. Michael Bennett, legal counsel for Brown, and members of the Saratoga Town Council.

The Saratoga Sun will have more in the March 9 edition.