Sheriff Rebuts
Questionable Allegations

(Editor/GG: Another day in Happy Valley with the Tribune slinging mud against another county official. Sheriff Rich Smith received an email from the editor of the Wet Mountain Tribune last week that contained a draft of a variety of allegations against Sheriff Smith regarding hiring practices and issues with personnel in the department. Sheriff Smith responded that he would like to meet with the editor to discuss the draft but the editor declined the face-to-face, man-to-man encounter and demanded a written response instead.
Sheriff Smith wrote a response and sent a copy to the Sentinel. We are printing the response at the same time the allegations are being
published in the Tribune so our readers can see what the truth is (and just in case the Tribune doesn’t print the Sheriff’s response).
Next week, after we have read the hit piece we will parse it and give a detailed analysis. (This is gonna be fun. If the article was anything like the Trib editor’s kindergarten level criminal complaint last year against Commissioner Canda re the infamous Braden Wilson $45k severance check, we will be having some laughs, again, at the “creative” writing. Stay tuned.)

Sheriff Smith’s Response:
April 8, 2024
Jordan, thank you so much for putting these questions in writing, so that I can address them.
You are asking me a number of employee related questions which are often handled with a “no comment”, or “we don’t comment on personnel issues” response.
I believe it is a crucial part of my job, serving the people of Custer County, to be as open as I can be about how their government works, given certain limitations dictated by laws and regulations.
I am able to share some details about the following employees because there has been outside independent investigations into their actions and those investigatory reports are a part of public record. You are welcome to come to the office and view the report (it’s in a 3 ring binder – not conducive to scanning them in a scanner or copier). Continue reading Sheriff Rebuts Questionable Allegations →