Legal News from Leadville Today

Mendoza Gets 15 Months for Charges

Publisher’s Note: The following press release was distributed to media outlets on Friday, April 26 by Public Information Officer John Bryan with the Fifth Judicial District and has been published on Leadville Today in its entirety.

Former Lake County Undersheriff Fernando Mendoza, 49, of Leadville, was sentenced today on two counts:  Attempt to Commit First Degree Aggravated Incest (F4) to three months in custody, and Attempt to Commit Invasion of Privacy for Sexual Gratification (M2) to twelve months in custody, for a total term in County Jail of 15 months.  For the offense of First Degree Aggravated Incest he was granted probation for a term of ten years to life.  A violation of his probation could cause the defendant to serve a life sentence, with the possibility of parole.  Defendant Mendoza will also be required to complete sex offender treatment.

The District Attorney (Bruce Brown) requested a term of four years to life but the Court instead allowed the defendant a probationary sentence.

A Lake County jury found him guilty Dec. 10, 2018, of the charges, but acquitted Mendoza of the other two charges against him:  Attempted Sexual Exploitation of a Child (F4); and, Embezzlement of Public Property (F5).

A Fifth Judicial District Grand Jury Indicted Mendoza Dec. 12, 2017, on seven criminal counts.  Some of those charges related to sexual harassment perpetrated upon several women who worked at the Sheriff’s office.  There is no criminal charge for sexual harassment and the Grand Jury indicted Mendoza on the charge of “official misconduct”.   The court separated those sexual harassment charges for trial, but they were later dismissed on defendant’s motion.   The sexual harassment investigation led to information connecting Defendant Mendoza to the incest charges related to his step-daughter in 2012, when she was a teenager.

Defendant Mendoza was “grooming” his step-daughter during that period.  Grooming is when a child is subject to a sexual predator’s action that might appear normal but is intended to build trust and manipulate the child into sexual activity.

Because of his position, Mendoza arrogantly bragged that nobody would believe the victim if she spoke out because he was “a trained liar”—an outrageous reference to his law enforcement status.

Now a convicted sex offender, Mendoza was ordered by the Court at the Friday sentencing hearing to participate in sex offender treatment, and must also register as a sex offender wherever he lives upon his release.   “Sex offenders come in all stripes and while shocking that during his service as Undersheriff, the defendant was an active child predator, it is only fitting that now the stripes he shows will be prison stripes,” said Bruce Brown, 5th Judicial District Attorney.  “We are grateful to the many survivors who bravely came forward to tell the truth.  Without their courage, this day of reckoning would never have come,” Brown added.

Lake County is a small rural community located in the central Colorado mountains, with a population of 7,800.  Recently, the long serving Sheriff who appointed Mendoza, was succeeded by Amy Reyes, the second elected female Sheriff in Colorado’s history.  The prosecution of Mendoza led to extensive media coverage since his arrest.

Utah Man Sentenced in Trailhead Robbery

Publisher’s Note: The following press release was distributed to media outlets on Friday, April 26 by Public Information Officer John Bryan with the Fifth Judicial District and has been published on Leadville Today in its entirety.

Duane Sandridge, 50, of Salt Lake City, UT, pleaded guilty in Lake County District Court yesterday and was sentenced to 11 years in prison (Colorado Department of Corrections (DoC)).  The charges he pleaded guilty to were Felony Menacing (w/real or simulated weapon)—F5, and 1st Degree Trespass of Auto (w/intent to commit a crime)—F5.

The La Plata Peak Trailhead is located off Highway 82 west of Twin Lakes.

On Sept. 8, 2017 Sandridge and his accomplice, William Putnam (also from Utah) were driving a rented vehicle from Utah to Kansas, where Sandridge was moving to live with his mother.  Along the way, Sandridge pulled into La Plata Peak Trailhead (near  Twin Lakes, CO) and parked next to a pickup truck.  Sandridge asked Putnam to “keep an eye out,” while he entered the truck’s driver’s side.  The truck’s owner was in the bed of the vehicle watching a movie as Sandridge rummaged through the truck cab.  The owner confronted Sandridge, who pulled what the Victim thought was a gun and threatened to shoot him.  The Victim backed up and Sandridge and Putnam took off, driving to Lakewood where they were eventually apprehended by Lakewood Police.

Throughout his 30+ year criminal history which spans several states, Defendant Sandridge has been involved in theft, credit card fraud, larceny, burglary, and auto theft.