WEBVTT - S4: E7 — The Golden Few 0:00:00.920 --> 0:00:03.920 Hey guys. Before we dive into the episode, we have 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:07.800 exciting news. Betrayal is coming to substack, which is an 0:00:07.800 --> 0:00:12.719 online community. We're calling our substack Beyond Betrayal, a place 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:15.440 where we dive deeper into the stories you hear on 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:19.720 this show. Please consider joining our community to gain access 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:23.840 to exclusive content, engage with me and subjects, as well 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:27.760 as connect with others who have experienced betrayal. Just head 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:33.760 to Betrayal dot substack that's sub stack, or just go 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:38.599 to substack dot com, search beyond Betrayal and hit subscribe. 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:45.800 He would come into my bedroom and say he was 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:49.519 clearing the house, but I'm sleeping in bed and I 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:52.760 have a gun in a flashlight in my face. He 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:56.200 just played by different rules and everyone just accepted that. 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:14.800 I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal, Season four, episode seven, 0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:25.040 The Golden Few. Every week, our team at Betrayal receives 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:29.679 dozens of emails from people devastated by infidelity, stories of 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:33.839 betrayal that are painful and deeply personal, and we read 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:37.399 every single one. We hear stories of people abusing their 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:41.720 power as teachers, doctors, and lawyers. But when we got 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:45.360 the email from Caroline Barega. We knew that this was 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:48.360 more than a personal betrayal to her and her family. 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:51.440 If you were the victim of a violent crime and 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:55.000 called nine one one in crisis, think about who you 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:59.080 would want to respond to your call. Joel's actions aren't 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:02.080 the most egregious case of police misconduct we can find, 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:06.120 far from it. But it's an everyday case of an 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:11.639 officer abusing his power, lying about it, an escaping termination. 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:19.959 That's what resonated with us. Think about it. Our entire 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:23.720 justice system relies on the integrity and character of cops. 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:28.480 As President Obama described police officers, they are the tips 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:32.400 on the spears of a societal order. 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:36.840 That's Will Ahison, a lawyer who's worked with police unions 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:40.120 for decades. You heard from him in the last episode. 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:44.320 He says, our society depends upon the trust we place 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:45.000 in the police. 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:51.080 We get police officers responsibility. We tell them you're going 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:54.840 to have the authority to deprive somebody of their liberty 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:59.080 by arresting them. You're going to have the ability, under 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:03.639 circumstances to use force against them, to take them into custody, 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:11.000 and under rare circumstances, to use deadly force. That responsibility 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:16.320 that we give police officers demands one hundred percent truthfulness 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:20.520 on the part of the police officer, no question about it. 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:24.560 We talk to another expert, former Maryland State Police Major 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:28.960 Neil Franklin. He works on issues surrounding policing all over 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:33.280 the country. He agreed that truthfulness needs to be a 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:35.440 core value of all officers. 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:40.400 We need to be about telling the truth because a 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:44.720 critical job function that we have is testifying in court. 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:47.640 Just about every case in our legal system, from a 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:51.160 traffic citation to a murder trial, relies on the word 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:54.960 of cops, and when a police officer's character is called 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:59.520 into question, entire cases fall apart. Just think of the 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:03.880 OJS trial when the lead detective used racial slurs and 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:07.640 then lied about it. It threw his credibility into question. 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:11.320 Or the Karen Reid trial in Boston, where the lead 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:16.120 investigator was caught sending highly inappropriate messages about the defendant. 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:19.960 The fact that each of these cops couldn't be trusted 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:25.159 undermined the prosecution's entire case. If you can't trust cops, 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:27.600 you have no rule of law. 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:32.359 If you cannot testify in court, you don't have that 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:36.000 level of integrity. You can't perform an essential job function, 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:38.080 so you can't be police officer. At least that's my 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:39.120 perspective on it. 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:45.839 Honesty, integrity, and high moral character are job requirements for 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:50.000 police officers, but does the culture really reflect that. At 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:54.680 the Colorado Springs Police Department, we met a civilian employee 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:58.719 who recently retired from CSPD. Will call her Barb. She 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:01.520 shared a story that gave more insight into how things 0:05:01.680 --> 0:05:06.039 worked at the department and into Joel Kern's connections, and 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:08.279 we've distorted her voice to protect her privacy. 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:11.760 So I heard this rumor that Joel had been having 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:14.240 an affair with someone from DHS, which I believe is 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:16.839 a Department of Human Services. That was the rumor, and 0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:20.080 I was like, I don't think so, because I had 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:24.280 seen him around his family. I was like, he can't 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:26.919 be that kind of a dog. And it bothered me. 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:31.760 To be clear, what really upset this former CSPD employee, Barb, 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:34.640 was that someone was spreading rumors about a married and 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:36.200 respected officer at work. 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:38.160 She thought it was. 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:42.720 Careless at best, damaging at worst. She wanted to shut 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:43.120 it down. 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:46.920 So I went to my chain of command and I said, hey, 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:49.520 you know, this really bothers me. This is what I've heard, 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:55.120 and it's just can't be right. Well, he turns around 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:55.920 and calls Joel. 0:05:56.800 --> 0:05:59.920 Her boss didn't even ask who was spreading the rumor. 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:04.239 Her reason for reporting it was to stop harmful gossip. 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:08.480 I was expecting some kind of reassurance that, Okay, this 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:12.840 is not cool and it's not right. I didn't get that. 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:20.360 He actually spoke very disparagingly about Caroline. He's like, Oh, 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:22.680 she's going to have him buy the balls, and you 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:24.720 know she's going to lose her mind and she's going 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:26.440 to take the house, this, that and the other, and 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:29.920 you know, she's such a bitch. And I'm like, okay, 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:31.920 I guess the few times I've seen or I didn't 0:06:31.920 --> 0:06:32.440 pick up on that. 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:41.919 Barb was completely taken aback at her supervisor's response. He 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:45.600 wasn't interested in shutting down the rumor, just justifying it. 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:49.839 She had originally been trying to protect Joel, a man 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:51.800 she saw as one of the good ones. 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:54.360 No, I got right on the phone and called Joel, 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:56.479 who then the next time I saw him, wanted to 0:06:56.680 --> 0:06:59.360 kill me. Just in the looks I got. 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:02.400 Barb didn't know what to make of it all her 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:06.479 boss's reaction, the sudden shift in tone. Joel, whom she 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:10.880 had once liked and respected, now treated her with cold hostility. 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:15.720 Then something happened with a female colleague, a friend of Barb's. 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:19.800 Joel started sending her sexually suggestive texts. 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:24.440 He texted her, and she looked up and was like, no, no, 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:28.320 there will be none of that. So I'm like, Okay, 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:32.000 he thinks that you're vulnerable, and you're going to show 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:34.320 him that you're not, which I'm thankful that she did. 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:35.920 In her name has never come up in any of 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:39.320 this stuff. She was uncomfortable by it, and I think 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:42.640 that she was a little bit closer to the positions 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:45.440 of power than I was, so she may have already 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:48.440 understood things were going on that I was not privy to. 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:52.560 This incident made Barb look at Joel's treatment towards her 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:56.360 and a whole new light. Maybe the rumors about Joel 0:07:56.560 --> 0:08:00.800 weren't rumors at all. Looking back now, she can't help 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:03.960 but wonder if he became cold to her because she 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:09.000 was on to him. Through our reporting, we uncovered even 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:12.760 more allegations of misconduct within the Colorado Springs Police Department. 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:16.400 It revealed a culture, one that doesn't just allow for 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:20.160 bad behavior to occur. It's a culture where good officers 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:24.360 may find themselves sidelined, and those who bend the truth 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:27.000 don't seem to face the consequences you'd expect. 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:33.720 The culture at CSPD is exceptionally toxic, and the toxicity 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:37.080 is all about the people in charge. 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:41.360 That's John. He is one of the few individuals with 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:44.560 inside knowledge of the CSPD who was willing to speak 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:47.600 on the record. We offered him the option to use 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.480 a pseudonym for his protection, but he didn't want it. 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:54.000 I'm fine with John. I was there for twelve years. 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:56.880 I don't care that they know who I am. 0:08:57.440 --> 0:09:00.800 John isn't just a former CSPD officer. He's a thirty 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:04.040 year military veteran who rose to the rank of colonel. 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:07.959 After a tour in Iraq, he returned home determined to 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:12.360 serve his community. He says, it's the same intention most 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:13.439 officers come in with. 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:19.000 If you sat in on interviews with potential police candidates, 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:21.120 every single one of them is going to tell you 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:23.440 something along the lines of I want to help people. 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:28.200 But when John started at CSPD, he quickly realized that 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:30.560 the department was not what he expected. 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:34.360 The folks at CSPD get promoted based on whether or 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:36.679 not they play golf with the chief. You know, it's 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:39.040 about It's all about me, if I'm in, if I'm 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:41.400 a sergeant or above, It's all about what how can 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:43.520 I use this position for myself. 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:48.599 John's first indication that something was wrong came during a crisis. 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:52.800 We had an event where a colleague of mine, a 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:54.640 friend and a colleague, was killed in the line of 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:57.640 duty and a motorcycle crash. 0:09:57.920 --> 0:09:59.920 The officer's name was Matt Tyner. 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:04.000 Matt was actually one of my instructors in the academy, 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:05.680 and he was one of those guys that I would 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:08.480 reach out to for mentorship and advice and how would 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:10.800 you handle this? Because I knew what he told me 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:13.719 was going to be solid. He was also a man 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:19.280 of impeccable integrity and character. Yeah, having a hard time 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:26.680 talking about it, but he's the kind of cop that 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:27.440 I wanted to be. 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:30.960 Matt was in pursuit of a suspect when he was killed. 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:34.400 Cops know there's a risk every time they respond to 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:38.880 a call. Any shift could be their last. Still, Matt's 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:42.880 death hit John hard. It was devastating, and the way 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:46.080 he found out his mentor had been killed made it 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:46.760 even worse. 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:55.560 I found out about it on Facebook. Somebody on the 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:57.520 scene used their phone to take a video of this 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:01.760 and posted it. He actually was alive for about forty 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:05.520 five minutes and he suffered terribly, and that's how Matt's 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:11.120 family found out about it through social media. They watched 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:16.600 their loved one suffer. I was absolutely incensed because in 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:19.800 the Army, we've been dealing with this for two decades. 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:22.600 John knew there was a better way to shield a 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:26.439 fallen officer's family. He'd seen what worked in the army. 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:28.600 That's when he offered a solution. 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:33.880 They could manage a notification process so that Matt's family 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:36.640 hears from the department before they start seeing things on 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:40.720 social media. So I voiced my opinion through an email 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:42.320 to my sergeant, and I asked for it to be 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:45.760 escalated so that they would start taking this into account. 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:49.520 He went through the chain of command, but his suggestion 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:51.720 was taken as an insult. 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:54.360 The next day, I was called into the commander's office 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:58.080 and given the knife hand and yelled at about knowing 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:02.199 my place, my place was to answer the radio calls. 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:06.520 That process still has not been adopted or even considered, 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:10.000 because the idea came from a lowly line level worker 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:14.920 rather than somebody who is in a management role. It's like, 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:17.320 you know, I may have some expertise in this arena 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:19.760 that you could take advantage of, but if it doesn't 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:21.520 come from one of them, it's not a good idea. 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:25.480 It was a rude awakening. As the years went on, 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:29.440 his concerns only grew. During his tenure at CSPD, John 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:33.720 spent several years as a DUI officer. These officers receive 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:37.960 special training, assist with fatal accidents, and work to stop 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:43.080 impaired drivers. DUI officers carry the weight of protecting lives 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:44.080 every day. 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:47.800 There are more people being killed by drunk drivers than 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:49.800 there are from homicide. 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:53.079 The city is divided into patrol divisions and there are 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:56.800 two DUI officers in each. When John joined the division, 0:12:57.080 --> 0:13:01.560 his counterpart was a legend officer, Glenn Thomas, a name 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:04.000 everyone knew in DUI enforcement. 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:08.080 He was known locally as the dui God. He was 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:10.000 the guy he arrested the most. 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:16.000 Everyone we spoke to told us about Glenn's charisma and charm. 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:17.880 He's a big personality. 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:21.920 Glenn Thomas is currently a sergeant, and at the time 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:24.440 I worked with him, we were both police officer first 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:27.559 class and we were both signed to the DUI enforcement 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:28.600 unit in Sand Creek. 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:32.320 Glenn had the highest DUI arrest record in the state 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:36.200 of Colorado. For years. He was the best and won 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:38.000 multiple awards and honors. 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:40.520 I was making a lot of arrests, signed up being 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:44.320 number two in the state. He beat me by I 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:46.120 think around one hundred arrests. 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:50.840 At first, you may think, wow, Colorado Springs must be 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:53.920 the safest place to drive in the country, but the 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:59.160 real story is more complicated. Like Joel Kern, Glenn Thomas 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:02.559 was up to no good and the department knew for years, 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:09.160 long before his alleged crimes became public. John first started 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:12.800 to question Glenn's methods when another officer confided in him. 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:17.160 What he told me was that he made a traffic stop. 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:20.160 He thinks the guy's impaired, calls for a DUI officer. 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:24.040 Glenn comes over and without talking to the driver, writes 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:26.640 down that he refused any kind of testing, serves him 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:28.640 as a refusal, and then leaves. 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:32.440 This was a serious allegation, and we don't have any 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:36.160 way of confirming this beyond John's word. But it all 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:39.960 came to a head. John. We'll get to that. When 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:42.680 an officer suspects there is a drunk or an pair driver, 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:46.880 he calls the DUI officer. That officer goes to the 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:50.480 scene to make an assessment. Why on earth would a 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:55.120 DUI officer lie about engaging with the driver. Well, John 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:55.800 has a theory. 0:14:56.360 --> 0:14:58.800 I think it was all about speed, so he could 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:02.040 get more in one shift rather than having to worry 0:15:02.040 --> 0:15:03.440 about the technicalities of it. 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:07.280 John wondered, was this whole Glenn had so many more 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:11.480 DUI arrests than any other officer in the state. Was 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:15.320 he taking shortcuts? It didn't sit right with John. 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:19.640 He and I immediately began butting heads. 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:22.800 But according to John, he wasn't the only one who 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:26.560 took issue with Glenn's behavior. For example, there was an 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:29.800 instance when John was called into court to testify about 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:33.560 a DUI investigation. It was a routine part of the job, 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:36.000 but on this occasion. 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:41.520 I testified in court and the defense attorney caught me 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:44.840 outside the hallway afterwards, and he said, I just wanted 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:47.720 to let you know you're a great witness. I can't 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:51.160 find any way to impeach your credibility. And then he 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:54.640 followed up with you're way better than that Glenn Thomas guy, 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:56.480 he's a liar and I'm going to get in one 0:15:56.480 --> 0:16:00.840 of these days. And two other cops were nearby and 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:02.000 they heard that statement. 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:04.000 Word got back to Glenn. 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:07.200 He took that as me attacking him, even though I 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:10.640 didn't make any statements. Next thing you know, I'm being 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:14.240 called into internal affairs, and the accusation was that I 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:20.520 was conducting an investigation against Glenn. I'm not investigating anything. 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:26.040 I'm being interrogated by my own department for potential wrongdoing. 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:30.560 John couldn't wrap his head around it. He was in 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:33.400 the hot seat when, according to John, it was Glenn 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:36.080 who was up to no good. So in the midst 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:40.400 of being questioned by internal Affairs, John made the decision 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:42.360 to share his concerns about Glenn. 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:45.800 I sat there for three hours and outlined all the 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:48.400 different things that people had told me, and I said, 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:50.480 I haven't followed up on any of this stuff, but 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:52.680 since you guys now know about it, I think you 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:56.920 have to. So they opened an investigation and I have 0:16:57.040 --> 0:16:59.880 never been privy to the investigation so. 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:04.159 Well, there were now two internal affairs investigations, one for 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:07.959 John into whether he was going after Glenn Thomas, and 0:17:08.000 --> 0:17:13.439 one into Glenn himself. John's allegations were supposedly investigated, and 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:16.560 as far as John knows, they were deemed unfounded. 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:20.320 At the end, we get sat down in a room 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:24.720 with all the command staff. Basically I was blamed for 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:28.000 the whole thing. They said, you know, Glenn made paperwork 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:31.080 errors because he does so many DUIs, and so we're 0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:34.639 going to chalk that up to administrative error. And I'm like, 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:38.840 if you show up and you know you didn't talk 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:40.480 to the guy and you wrote down that he was 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:43.640 a refusal, that's a lie. That's not an administrative air. 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:48.960 CSPD denied our request for these IA investigations, so we 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:52.440 don't know for sure what evidence was weighed in exonerating Glenn. 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:58.280 What we do know is this John was genuinely concerned 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:02.000 about Glenn's behavior, and when he tried to bring those 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:07.480 concerns to CESPD, he was shut down hard. And John 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:08.680 thinks he knows why. 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:11.600 Glenn Thomas was allowed to get away with lying because 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:14.840 he's friends with everybody. People connect with him very readily, 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:18.080 so he uses that to deceive people or manipulate people. 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:22.040 And this is the theme Glenn Thomas continued as the 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:26.320 DUI god. John felt like Glenn was a walking liability 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:29.320 and a liar. John may have been one of the 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:34.119 first people to call out Thomas' bad behavior, but he 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:59.520 wasn't the last. Glenn Thomas, the Colorado Springs d UI God, 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:03.560 is currently awaiting trial for intimidating a ten year old 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:08.359 witness and for violating a protection order. In the course 0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:11.000 of our reporting, we met someone who knows Glenn well, 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:17.080 his ex wife, Sarah, herself a former CSPD officer. Sarah 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:21.040 acknowledged that Glenn had a real talent for duy enforcement. 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:26.639 It's everything to him, like that's his identity. Honestly, in 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:30.359 my opinion, he was proud of the awards that he got, 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:34.360 like he just knew how to do that job so well. 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:37.160 But Sarah recognized that Glenn was able to get away 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:38.960 with things other cops couldn't. 0:19:39.880 --> 0:19:43.399 He just played by different rules and everyone just accepted that. 0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:46.800 He would say things on the radio that were really 0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:50.800 really inappropriate and then he wouldn't get in trouble for 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:52.320 any of it. Everyone would just laugh. 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:56.080 He was the class clown. He could be crude and 0:19:56.160 --> 0:20:01.960 it was all deemed acceptable. Glenn Thomas had three daughters together, 0:20:02.480 --> 0:20:05.080 and for several years they were a good team. 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:10.760 The first ten years of our marriage, he still continued 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:15.520 to be very charming. He's very funny. I mean there 0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:18.720 was ups and downs. I think until he got on 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:21.719 a car wreck and hurt his back, and then I 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:24.600 think it was like between the pain and then he 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:28.600 got on payments, and I think between the two like 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:31.400 he kind of just very, very drastically changed. 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:36.520 Those changes included behaving violently towards her and their children. 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:40.160 There were times that he hit me. There were times 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:42.800 that he threw me across the room in front of 0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:43.320 the kids. 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:48.600 Sarah said Glenn could be controlling and at times terrifying. 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:54.880 After we were not sharing a bedroom anymore, he'd come 0:20:54.880 --> 0:21:00.040 home at five am and come into my bedroom and 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:03.040 he would say he was clearing the house, but like, 0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:05.119 I'm sleeping in bed and I have a gun in 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:06.359 a flashlight in my face. 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:11.280 Sarah told us about one incident that was particularly alarming. 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:16.720 We weren't allowed to lock doors, and we were in 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:22.159 an argument and I went into the bathroom and like, 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:25.560 it sounds so silly, but the door got locked. I 0:21:25.560 --> 0:21:28.600 didn't even lock it, and he kicked the door in 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:30.680 and hit me with the door. 0:21:31.840 --> 0:21:35.879 Their three daughters were also affected by his behavior, especially 0:21:35.920 --> 0:21:37.000 their eldest. 0:21:37.600 --> 0:21:40.720 I witnessed it, the other girls witnessed it, but he 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:43.639 put a chip clip on her breast and so she 0:21:43.760 --> 0:21:44.600 started crying. 0:21:45.920 --> 0:21:50.119 In divorce proceedings, Glenn claimed he often put chip clips 0:21:50.160 --> 0:21:53.359 on his family member's clothes in good fun. It was 0:21:53.359 --> 0:21:56.560 a game to him. The incident with his daughter was 0:21:56.600 --> 0:22:00.760 an accident, and he apologized. At the time, Sarah tried 0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:01.960 to diffuse the conflict. 0:22:03.400 --> 0:22:06.760 I kind of just separated them and tried to calm 0:22:06.800 --> 0:22:07.840 the situation down. 0:22:09.040 --> 0:22:12.480 Her daughter was fourteen at the time. Glenn's behavior was bizarre. 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:17.119 That was in addition to the physical violence Sarah experienced 0:22:17.160 --> 0:22:21.280 at his hands. So this all begs the question why 0:22:21.280 --> 0:22:25.320 didn't Sarah go to the police. After all, she was 0:22:25.400 --> 0:22:27.119 a former officer at CSPD. 0:22:28.400 --> 0:22:32.800 I knew what his relationship was with the department. I 0:22:32.880 --> 0:22:39.160 just didn't feel like I would be taken seriously even 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:41.320 if I went to them, I did not feel like 0:22:42.080 --> 0:22:45.240 there would be any consequences for him, which then would 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:48.399 most likely make things very, very, very much worse for 0:22:48.440 --> 0:22:50.200 me and my children. 0:22:51.040 --> 0:22:54.000 It's a risk a lot of survivors of domestic violence 0:22:54.000 --> 0:22:58.359 way out would reporting make things worse, more dangerous, and 0:22:58.400 --> 0:23:01.760 in Sarah's case, she'd be reporting her husband to his 0:23:01.840 --> 0:23:06.919 own buddies. So for years she stayed silent and stayed 0:23:06.920 --> 0:23:11.159 in the marriage, hoping things would change. But then in 0:23:11.200 --> 0:23:14.560 the fall of twenty twenty one, something happened that pushed 0:23:14.800 --> 0:23:16.000 Sarah to act. 0:23:16.560 --> 0:23:20.040 My oldest came to me and basically said, I don't 0:23:20.040 --> 0:23:23.600 trust you anymore. You're not protecting us, Like, I don't 0:23:23.640 --> 0:23:27.639 know why you're not leaving him, And she basically told 0:23:27.680 --> 0:23:31.399 me you need to leave him or he's gonna end 0:23:31.480 --> 0:23:33.840 up killing you and us two. 0:23:34.720 --> 0:23:36.720 That was the moment everything changed. 0:23:37.560 --> 0:23:40.600 And then I talked to my other two. I was like, 0:23:40.920 --> 0:23:43.359 do you guys feel the same way, and they both 0:23:43.400 --> 0:23:46.520 were like, definitely, you need to get out. 0:23:48.040 --> 0:23:51.280 So she did. Keep in mind this was a police 0:23:51.280 --> 0:23:53.040 officer they were escaping from. 0:23:53.880 --> 0:23:57.800 And I called the divorce attorney that day because I 0:23:57.800 --> 0:24:01.280 didn't really have that concept of what they were going through. 0:24:02.440 --> 0:24:06.399 They moved into a safehouse provided by Tessa, a Colorado 0:24:06.440 --> 0:24:10.960 Springs organization that helps those experiencing domestic violence. 0:24:11.480 --> 0:24:14.359 That was just a really hard thing to go through, 0:24:15.480 --> 0:24:20.919 leaving your kid's bedrooms. It was hard for all of 0:24:21.000 --> 0:24:25.919 us to not have a space and not know what 0:24:26.080 --> 0:24:29.600 was coming next, and that uncertainty of where we were 0:24:29.640 --> 0:24:32.800 even going to be laying our heads down. 0:24:33.160 --> 0:24:35.800 And once she and the kids were safe, they started 0:24:35.800 --> 0:24:40.000 to talk about Glenn's behavior. Things were worse than Sarah knew. 0:24:40.440 --> 0:24:43.320 Her eldest daughter brought up the incident with the chip clip. 0:24:44.320 --> 0:24:47.439 She said that he kind of was targeting her. It 0:24:47.480 --> 0:24:53.760 wasn't an isolated incident, and he was doing it multiple times. 0:24:54.760 --> 0:24:57.359 It was then that Sarah decided to report Glenn to 0:24:57.440 --> 0:25:01.880