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Speaker 2: He would come into my bedroom and say he was
Speaker 2: clearing the house, but I'm sleeping in bed and I
Speaker 2: have a gun in a flashlight in my face. He
Speaker 2: just played by different rules and everyone just accepted that.
Speaker 1: I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal, Season four, episode seven,
Speaker 1: The Golden Few. Every week, our team at Betrayal receives
Speaker 1: dozens of emails from people devastated by infidelity, stories of
Speaker 1: betrayal that are painful and deeply personal, and we read
Speaker 1: every single one. We hear stories of people abusing their
Speaker 1: power as teachers, doctors, and lawyers. But when we got
Speaker 1: the email from Caroline Barega. We knew that this was
Speaker 1: more than a personal betrayal to her and her family.
Speaker 1: If you were the victim of a violent crime and
Speaker 1: called nine one one in crisis, think about who you
Speaker 1: would want to respond to your call. Joel's actions aren't
Speaker 1: the most egregious case of police misconduct we can find,
Speaker 1: far from it. But it's an everyday case of an
Speaker 1: officer abusing his power, lying about it, an escaping termination.
Speaker 1: That's what resonated with us. Think about it. Our entire
Speaker 1: justice system relies on the integrity and character of cops.
Speaker 3: As President Obama described police officers, they are the tips
Speaker 3: on the spears of a societal order.
Speaker 1: That's Will Ahison, a lawyer who's worked with police unions
Speaker 1: for decades. You heard from him in the last episode.
Speaker 1: He says, our society depends upon the trust we place
Speaker 1: in the police.
Speaker 3: We get police officers responsibility. We tell them you're going
Speaker 3: to have the authority to deprive somebody of their liberty
Speaker 3: by arresting them. You're going to have the ability, under
Speaker 3: circumstances to use force against them, to take them into custody,
Speaker 3: and under rare circumstances, to use deadly force. That responsibility
Speaker 3: that we give police officers demands one hundred percent truthfulness
Speaker 3: on the part of the police officer, no question about it.
Speaker 1: We talk to another expert, former Maryland State Police Major
Speaker 1: Neil Franklin. He works on issues surrounding policing all over
Speaker 1: the country. He agreed that truthfulness needs to be a
Speaker 1: core value of all officers.
Speaker 4: We need to be about telling the truth because a
Speaker 4: critical job function that we have is testifying in court.
Speaker 1: Just about every case in our legal system, from a
Speaker 1: traffic citation to a murder trial, relies on the word
Speaker 1: of cops, and when a police officer's character is called
Speaker 1: into question, entire cases fall apart. Just think of the
Speaker 1: OJS trial when the lead detective used racial slurs and
Speaker 1: then lied about it. It threw his credibility into question.
Speaker 1: Or the Karen Reid trial in Boston, where the lead
Speaker 1: investigator was caught sending highly inappropriate messages about the defendant.
Speaker 1: The fact that each of these cops couldn't be trusted
Speaker 1: undermined the prosecution's entire case. If you can't trust cops,
Speaker 1: you have no rule of law.
Speaker 4: If you cannot testify in court, you don't have that
Speaker 4: level of integrity. You can't perform an essential job function,
Speaker 4: so you can't be police officer. At least that's my
Speaker 4: perspective on it.
Speaker 1: Honesty, integrity, and high moral character are job requirements for
Speaker 1: police officers, but does the culture really reflect that. At
Speaker 1: the Colorado Springs Police Department, we met a civilian employee
Speaker 1: who recently retired from CSPD. Will call her Barb. She
Speaker 1: shared a story that gave more insight into how things
Speaker 1: worked at the department and into Joel Kern's connections, and
Speaker 1: we've distorted her voice to protect her privacy.
Speaker 5: So I heard this rumor that Joel had been having
Speaker 5: an affair with someone from DHS, which I believe is
Speaker 5: a Department of Human Services. That was the rumor, and
Speaker 5: I was like, I don't think so, because I had
Speaker 5: seen him around his family. I was like, he can't
Speaker 5: be that kind of a dog. And it bothered me.
Speaker 1: To be clear, what really upset this former CSPD employee, Barb,
Speaker 1: was that someone was spreading rumors about a married and
Speaker 1: respected officer at work.
Speaker 2: She thought it was.
Speaker 1: Careless at best, damaging at worst. She wanted to shut
Speaker 1: it down.
Speaker 5: So I went to my chain of command and I said, hey,
Speaker 5: you know, this really bothers me. This is what I've heard,
Speaker 5: and it's just can't be right. Well, he turns around
Speaker 5: and calls Joel.
Speaker 1: Her boss didn't even ask who was spreading the rumor.
Speaker 1: Her reason for reporting it was to stop harmful gossip.
Speaker 5: I was expecting some kind of reassurance that, Okay, this
Speaker 5: is not cool and it's not right. I didn't get that.
Speaker 5: He actually spoke very disparagingly about Caroline. He's like, Oh,
Speaker 5: she's going to have him buy the balls, and you
Speaker 5: know she's going to lose her mind and she's going
Speaker 5: to take the house, this, that and the other, and
Speaker 5: you know, she's such a bitch. And I'm like, okay,
Speaker 5: I guess the few times I've seen or I didn't
Speaker 5: pick up on that.
Speaker 1: Barb was completely taken aback at her supervisor's response. He
Speaker 1: wasn't interested in shutting down the rumor, just justifying it.
Speaker 1: She had originally been trying to protect Joel, a man
Speaker 1: she saw as one of the good ones.
Speaker 5: No, I got right on the phone and called Joel,
Speaker 5: who then the next time I saw him, wanted to
Speaker 5: kill me. Just in the looks I got.
Speaker 1: Barb didn't know what to make of it all her
Speaker 1: boss's reaction, the sudden shift in tone. Joel, whom she
Speaker 1: had once liked and respected, now treated her with cold hostility.
Speaker 1: Then something happened with a female colleague, a friend of Barb's.
Speaker 1: Joel started sending her sexually suggestive texts.
Speaker 5: He texted her, and she looked up and was like, no, no,
Speaker 5: there will be none of that. So I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 5: he thinks that you're vulnerable, and you're going to show
Speaker 5: him that you're not, which I'm thankful that she did.
Speaker 5: In her name has never come up in any of
Speaker 5: this stuff. She was uncomfortable by it, and I think
Speaker 5: that she was a little bit closer to the positions
Speaker 5: of power than I was, so she may have already
Speaker 5: understood things were going on that I was not privy to.
Speaker 1: This incident made Barb look at Joel's treatment towards her
Speaker 1: and a whole new light. Maybe the rumors about Joel
Speaker 1: weren't rumors at all. Looking back now, she can't help
Speaker 1: but wonder if he became cold to her because she
Speaker 1: was on to him. Through our reporting, we uncovered even
Speaker 1: more allegations of misconduct within the Colorado Springs Police Department.
Speaker 1: It revealed a culture, one that doesn't just allow for
Speaker 1: bad behavior to occur. It's a culture where good officers
Speaker 1: may find themselves sidelined, and those who bend the truth
Speaker 1: don't seem to face the consequences you'd expect.
Speaker 6: The culture at CSPD is exceptionally toxic, and the toxicity
Speaker 6: is all about the people in charge.
Speaker 1: That's John. He is one of the few individuals with
Speaker 1: inside knowledge of the CSPD who was willing to speak
Speaker 1: on the record. We offered him the option to use
Speaker 1: a pseudonym for his protection, but he didn't want it.
Speaker 6: I'm fine with John. I was there for twelve years.
Speaker 6: I don't care that they know who I am.
Speaker 1: John isn't just a former CSPD officer. He's a thirty
Speaker 1: year military veteran who rose to the rank of colonel.
Speaker 1: After a tour in Iraq, he returned home determined to
Speaker 1: serve his community. He says, it's the same intention most
Speaker 1: officers come in with.
Speaker 6: If you sat in on interviews with potential police candidates,
Speaker 6: every single one of them is going to tell you
Speaker 6: something along the lines of I want to help people.
Speaker 1: But when John started at CSPD, he quickly realized that
Speaker 1: the department was not what he expected.
Speaker 6: The folks at CSPD get promoted based on whether or
Speaker 6: not they play golf with the chief. You know, it's
Speaker 6: about It's all about me, if I'm in, if I'm
Speaker 6: a sergeant or above, It's all about what how can
Speaker 6: I use this position for myself.
Speaker 1: John's first indication that something was wrong came during a crisis.
Speaker 6: We had an event where a colleague of mine, a
Speaker 6: friend and a colleague, was killed in the line of
Speaker 6: duty and a motorcycle crash.
Speaker 1: The officer's name was Matt Tyner.
Speaker 6: Matt was actually one of my instructors in the academy,
Speaker 6: and he was one of those guys that I would
Speaker 6: reach out to for mentorship and advice and how would
Speaker 6: you handle this? Because I knew what he told me
Speaker 6: was going to be solid. He was also a man
Speaker 6: of impeccable integrity and character. Yeah, having a hard time
Speaker 6: talking about it, but he's the kind of cop that
Speaker 6: I wanted to be.
Speaker 1: Matt was in pursuit of a suspect when he was killed.
Speaker 1: Cops know there's a risk every time they respond to
Speaker 1: a call. Any shift could be their last. Still, Matt's
Speaker 1: death hit John hard. It was devastating, and the way
Speaker 1: he found out his mentor had been killed made it
Speaker 1: even worse.
Speaker 6: I found out about it on Facebook. Somebody on the
Speaker 6: scene used their phone to take a video of this
Speaker 6: and posted it. He actually was alive for about forty
Speaker 6: five minutes and he suffered terribly, and that's how Matt's
Speaker 6: family found out about it through social media. They watched
Speaker 6: their loved one suffer. I was absolutely incensed because in
Speaker 6: the Army, we've been dealing with this for two decades.
Speaker 1: John knew there was a better way to shield a
Speaker 1: fallen officer's family. He'd seen what worked in the army.
Speaker 1: That's when he offered a solution.
Speaker 6: They could manage a notification process so that Matt's family
Speaker 6: hears from the department before they start seeing things on
Speaker 6: social media. So I voiced my opinion through an email
Speaker 6: to my sergeant, and I asked for it to be
Speaker 6: escalated so that they would start taking this into account.
Speaker 1: He went through the chain of command, but his suggestion
Speaker 1: was taken as an insult.
Speaker 6: The next day, I was called into the commander's office
Speaker 6: and given the knife hand and yelled at about knowing
Speaker 6: my place, my place was to answer the radio calls.
Speaker 6: That process still has not been adopted or even considered,
Speaker 6: because the idea came from a lowly line level worker
Speaker 6: rather than somebody who is in a management role. It's like,
Speaker 6: you know, I may have some expertise in this arena
Speaker 6: that you could take advantage of, but if it doesn't
Speaker 6: come from one of them, it's not a good idea.
Speaker 1: It was a rude awakening. As the years went on,
Speaker 1: his concerns only grew. During his tenure at CSPD, John
Speaker 1: spent several years as a DUI officer. These officers receive
Speaker 1: special training, assist with fatal accidents, and work to stop
Speaker 1: impaired drivers. DUI officers carry the weight of protecting lives
Speaker 1: every day.
Speaker 6: There are more people being killed by drunk drivers than
Speaker 6: there are from homicide.
Speaker 1: The city is divided into patrol divisions and there are
Speaker 1: two DUI officers in each. When John joined the division,
Speaker 1: his counterpart was a legend officer, Glenn Thomas, a name
Speaker 1: everyone knew in DUI enforcement.
Speaker 6: He was known locally as the dui God. He was
Speaker 6: the guy he arrested the most.
Speaker 1: Everyone we spoke to told us about Glenn's charisma and charm.
Speaker 1: He's a big personality.
Speaker 6: Glenn Thomas is currently a sergeant, and at the time
Speaker 6: I worked with him, we were both police officer first
Speaker 6: class and we were both signed to the DUI enforcement
Speaker 6: unit in Sand Creek.
Speaker 1: Glenn had the highest DUI arrest record in the state
Speaker 1: of Colorado. For years. He was the best and won
Speaker 1: multiple awards and honors.
Speaker 6: I was making a lot of arrests, signed up being
Speaker 6: number two in the state. He beat me by I
Speaker 6: think around one hundred arrests.
Speaker 1: At first, you may think, wow, Colorado Springs must be
Speaker 1: the safest place to drive in the country, but the
Speaker 1: real story is more complicated. Like Joel Kern, Glenn Thomas
Speaker 1: was up to no good and the department knew for years,
Speaker 1: long before his alleged crimes became public. John first started
Speaker 1: to question Glenn's methods when another officer confided in him.
Speaker 6: What he told me was that he made a traffic stop.
Speaker 6: He thinks the guy's impaired, calls for a DUI officer.
Speaker 6: Glenn comes over and without talking to the driver, writes
Speaker 6: down that he refused any kind of testing, serves him
Speaker 6: as a refusal, and then leaves.
Speaker 1: This was a serious allegation, and we don't have any
Speaker 1: way of confirming this beyond John's word. But it all
Speaker 1: came to a head. John. We'll get to that. When
Speaker 1: an officer suspects there is a drunk or an pair driver,
Speaker 1: he calls the DUI officer. That officer goes to the
Speaker 1: scene to make an assessment. Why on earth would a
Speaker 1: DUI officer lie about engaging with the driver. Well, John
Speaker 1: has a theory.
Speaker 6: I think it was all about speed, so he could
Speaker 6: get more in one shift rather than having to worry
Speaker 6: about the technicalities of it.
Speaker 1: John wondered, was this whole Glenn had so many more
Speaker 1: DUI arrests than any other officer in the state. Was
Speaker 1: he taking shortcuts? It didn't sit right with John.
Speaker 6: He and I immediately began butting heads.
Speaker 1: But according to John, he wasn't the only one who
Speaker 1: took issue with Glenn's behavior. For example, there was an
Speaker 1: instance when John was called into court to testify about
Speaker 1: a DUI investigation. It was a routine part of the job,
Speaker 1: but on this occasion.
Speaker 6: I testified in court and the defense attorney caught me
Speaker 6: outside the hallway afterwards, and he said, I just wanted
Speaker 6: to let you know you're a great witness. I can't
Speaker 6: find any way to impeach your credibility. And then he
Speaker 6: followed up with you're way better than that Glenn Thomas guy,
Speaker 6: he's a liar and I'm going to get in one
Speaker 6: of these days. And two other cops were nearby and
Speaker 6: they heard that statement.
Speaker 1: Word got back to Glenn.
Speaker 6: He took that as me attacking him, even though I
Speaker 6: didn't make any statements. Next thing you know, I'm being
Speaker 6: called into internal affairs, and the accusation was that I
Speaker 6: was conducting an investigation against Glenn. I'm not investigating anything.
Speaker 6: I'm being interrogated by my own department for potential wrongdoing.
Speaker 1: John couldn't wrap his head around it. He was in
Speaker 1: the hot seat when, according to John, it was Glenn
Speaker 1: who was up to no good. So in the midst
Speaker 1: of being questioned by internal Affairs, John made the decision
Speaker 1: to share his concerns about Glenn.
Speaker 6: I sat there for three hours and outlined all the
Speaker 6: different things that people had told me, and I said,
Speaker 6: I haven't followed up on any of this stuff, but
Speaker 6: since you guys now know about it, I think you
Speaker 6: have to. So they opened an investigation and I have
Speaker 6: never been privy to the investigation so.
Speaker 1: Well, there were now two internal affairs investigations, one for
Speaker 1: John into whether he was going after Glenn Thomas, and
Speaker 1: one into Glenn himself. John's allegations were supposedly investigated, and
Speaker 1: as far as John knows, they were deemed unfounded.
Speaker 6: At the end, we get sat down in a room
Speaker 6: with all the command staff. Basically I was blamed for
Speaker 6: the whole thing. They said, you know, Glenn made paperwork
Speaker 6: errors because he does so many DUIs, and so we're
Speaker 6: going to chalk that up to administrative error. And I'm like,
Speaker 6: if you show up and you know you didn't talk
Speaker 6: to the guy and you wrote down that he was
Speaker 6: a refusal, that's a lie. That's not an administrative air.
Speaker 1: CSPD denied our request for these IA investigations, so we
Speaker 1: don't know for sure what evidence was weighed in exonerating Glenn.
Speaker 1: What we do know is this John was genuinely concerned
Speaker 1: about Glenn's behavior, and when he tried to bring those
Speaker 1: concerns to CESPD, he was shut down hard. And John
Speaker 1: thinks he knows why.
Speaker 6: Glenn Thomas was allowed to get away with lying because
Speaker 6: he's friends with everybody. People connect with him very readily,
Speaker 6: so he uses that to deceive people or manipulate people.
Speaker 1: And this is the theme Glenn Thomas continued as the
Speaker 1: DUI god. John felt like Glenn was a walking liability
Speaker 1: and a liar. John may have been one of the
Speaker 1: first people to call out Thomas' bad behavior, but he
Speaker 1: wasn't the last. Glenn Thomas, the Colorado Springs d UI God,
Speaker 1: is currently awaiting trial for intimidating a ten year old
Speaker 1: witness and for violating a protection order. In the course
Speaker 1: of our reporting, we met someone who knows Glenn well,
Speaker 1: his ex wife, Sarah, herself a former CSPD officer. Sarah
Speaker 1: acknowledged that Glenn had a real talent for duy enforcement.
Speaker 2: It's everything to him, like that's his identity. Honestly, in
Speaker 2: my opinion, he was proud of the awards that he got,
Speaker 2: like he just knew how to do that job so well.
Speaker 1: But Sarah recognized that Glenn was able to get away
Speaker 1: with things other cops couldn't.
Speaker 2: He just played by different rules and everyone just accepted that.
Speaker 2: He would say things on the radio that were really
Speaker 2: really inappropriate and then he wouldn't get in trouble for
Speaker 2: any of it. Everyone would just laugh.
Speaker 1: He was the class clown. He could be crude and
Speaker 1: it was all deemed acceptable. Glenn Thomas had three daughters together,
Speaker 1: and for several years they were a good team.
Speaker 2: The first ten years of our marriage, he still continued
Speaker 2: to be very charming. He's very funny. I mean there
Speaker 2: was ups and downs. I think until he got on
Speaker 2: a car wreck and hurt his back, and then I
Speaker 2: think it was like between the pain and then he
Speaker 2: got on payments, and I think between the two like
Speaker 2: he kind of just very, very drastically changed.
Speaker 1: Those changes included behaving violently towards her and their children.
Speaker 2: There were times that he hit me. There were times
Speaker 2: that he threw me across the room in front of
Speaker 2: the kids.
Speaker 1: Sarah said Glenn could be controlling and at times terrifying.
Speaker 2: After we were not sharing a bedroom anymore, he'd come
Speaker 2: home at five am and come into my bedroom and
Speaker 2: he would say he was clearing the house, but like,
Speaker 2: I'm sleeping in bed and I have a gun in
Speaker 2: a flashlight in my face.
Speaker 1: Sarah told us about one incident that was particularly alarming.
Speaker 2: We weren't allowed to lock doors, and we were in
Speaker 2: an argument and I went into the bathroom and like,
Speaker 2: it sounds so silly, but the door got locked. I
Speaker 2: didn't even lock it, and he kicked the door in
Speaker 2: and hit me with the door.
Speaker 1: Their three daughters were also affected by his behavior, especially
Speaker 1: their eldest.
Speaker 2: I witnessed it, the other girls witnessed it, but he
Speaker 2: put a chip clip on her breast and so she
Speaker 2: started crying.
Speaker 1: In divorce proceedings, Glenn claimed he often put chip clips
Speaker 1: on his family member's clothes in good fun. It was
Speaker 1: a game to him. The incident with his daughter was
Speaker 1: an accident, and he apologized. At the time, Sarah tried
Speaker 1: to diffuse the conflict.
Speaker 2: I kind of just separated them and tried to calm
Speaker 2: the situation down.
Speaker 1: Her daughter was fourteen at the time. Glenn's behavior was bizarre.
Speaker 1: That was in addition to the physical violence Sarah experienced
Speaker 1: at his hands. So this all begs the question why
Speaker 1: didn't Sarah go to the police. After all, she was
Speaker 1: a former officer at CSPD.
Speaker 2: I knew what his relationship was with the department. I
Speaker 2: just didn't feel like I would be taken seriously even
Speaker 2: if I went to them, I did not feel like
Speaker 2: there would be any consequences for him, which then would
Speaker 2: most likely make things very, very, very much worse for
Speaker 2: me and my children.
Speaker 1: It's a risk a lot of survivors of domestic violence
Speaker 1: way out would reporting make things worse, more dangerous, and
Speaker 1: in Sarah's case, she'd be reporting her husband to his
Speaker 1: own buddies. So for years she stayed silent and stayed
Speaker 1: in the marriage, hoping things would change. But then in
Speaker 1: the fall of twenty twenty one, something happened that pushed
Speaker 1: Sarah to act.
Speaker 2: My oldest came to me and basically said, I don't
Speaker 2: trust you anymore. You're not protecting us, Like, I don't
Speaker 2: know why you're not leaving him, And she basically told
Speaker 2: me you need to leave him or he's gonna end
Speaker 2: up killing you and us two.
Speaker 1: That was the moment everything changed.
Speaker 2: And then I talked to my other two. I was like,
Speaker 2: do you guys feel the same way, and they both
Speaker 2: were like, definitely, you need to get out.
Speaker 1: So she did. Keep in mind this was a police
Speaker 1: officer they were escaping from.
Speaker 2: And I called the divorce attorney that day because I
Speaker 2: didn't really have that concept of what they were going through.
Speaker 1: They moved into a safehouse provided by Tessa, a Colorado
Speaker 1: Springs organization that helps those experiencing domestic violence.
Speaker 2: That was just a really hard thing to go through,
Speaker 2: leaving your kid's bedrooms. It was hard for all of
Speaker 2: us to not have a space and not know what
Speaker 2: was coming next, and that uncertainty of where we were
Speaker 2: even going to be laying our heads down.
Speaker 1: And once she and the kids were safe, they started
Speaker 1: to talk about Glenn's behavior. Things were worse than Sarah knew.
Speaker 1: Her eldest daughter brought up the incident with the chip clip.
Speaker 2: She said that he kind of was targeting her. It
Speaker 2: wasn't an isolated incident, and he was doing it multiple times.
Speaker 1: It was then that Sarah decided to report Glenn to
Speaker 1: the CSPD. She spoke to them filn sergeant and her
Speaker 1: initial concerns about not being taken seriously by the department
Speaker 1: were validated.
Speaker 2: The conversation I had with the sergeant of the DV
Speaker 2: unit made me feel gross. He was telling me how
Speaker 2: we need to just figure out a way to get
Speaker 2: along and that was the initial call for this, And like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: I know there's been a lot of incidents back and
Speaker 2: forth between you. No, there hasn't. He has been victimizing us, period.
Speaker 1: But she did feel supported by the officers who were
Speaker 1: eventually assigned to investigate the case.
Speaker 2: I felt like they did do a really, really thorough
Speaker 2: fantastic job investigating it, and they ended up going back
Speaker 2: kind of investigating everything. So that's really when everything came
Speaker 2: out to CSPD that this is kind of what I
Speaker 2: have been going through, my kids have been going through. This.
Speaker 2: Detective sergeant and the detective felt like they had reached
Speaker 2: the level of probable cause for domestic violence charges, and
Speaker 2: so they were told by their lieutenant that they needed
Speaker 2: to refer it to the DA's office at the time,
Speaker 2: rather they just arrest as per statute they were required
Speaker 2: to do to the DA.
Speaker 1: Glenn wasn't just any cop. They depended on him regularly.
Speaker 1: He frequently testified in cases for the DA's office. And
Speaker 1: that wasn't all.
Speaker 2: That day that they referred it to the DA's office.
Speaker 2: He was training the DA's office in DUIs, like he's
Speaker 2: physically at their location. They get this case against him,
Speaker 2: and unsurprisingly they declined to prosecute.
Speaker 1: When asked for comment on this claim, the DA said
Speaker 1: there was insufficient evidence available to prosecute Sarah points out
Speaker 1: that even if the DA wasn't intentionally protecting Glenn, there
Speaker 1: was a conflict of interest here. How could the DA
Speaker 1: be impartial in a decision to prosecute someone they work
Speaker 1: with so closely.
Speaker 2: The right thing to do would have been for them
Speaker 2: to refer it to a special prosecutor, but they did it.
Speaker 1: I wondered what would have happened if Glenn hadn't been
Speaker 1: a CSPD police officer or hadn't been so close with
Speaker 1: the DA.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent, he would have been arrested. It wouldn't
Speaker 2: have been a hesitation. It would have been right away.
Speaker 1: After the DA declined to prosecute, Sarah continued to fight
Speaker 1: for something to be done. In her divorce proceedings, a
Speaker 1: judge reviewed Glenn's behavior. She cited examples like the chip
Speaker 1: clip incident to be quote inappropriate and uncomfortable, and when
Speaker 1: it came to Glenn's treatment of Sarah, specifically the day
Speaker 1: when Glenn kicked down the bathroom door or the judge
Speaker 1: was clear this was domestic violence. She gave Sarah full
Speaker 1: custody of their two oldest daughters. Glenn was only allowed
Speaker 1: to have limited contact with the youngest daughter. This judgment
Speaker 1: came down in Fall twenty twenty two, nearly three years ago.
Speaker 1: At the time, it felt validating to Sarah. A judge
Speaker 1: saw what Glenn was capable of and took action to
Speaker 1: protect Sarah's kids. But this was all in family court,
Speaker 1: not criminal, so Glenn was still allowed to wear the
Speaker 1: badge and carry a gun. Sarah felt like it was
Speaker 1: important to file a complaint with Internal Affairs.
Speaker 2: Then IA gets the case to see if he violated
Speaker 2: any policies.
Speaker 1: This was no longer about whether Glenn broke state or
Speaker 1: federal laws. There would be no criminal charges. Now it
Speaker 1: was a question of whether Glenn broke the department's rules.
Speaker 1: And remember, Sarah had been a cop, she knew domestic
Speaker 1: violence went against policy. Perhaps Internal Affairs would bring her
Speaker 1: some sense of justice.
Speaker 2: If they think that there's any evidence that shows that
Speaker 2: he has either broken the law or violated policy, then
Speaker 2: they have a lot more ability to take action and
Speaker 2: make it so he's not in that position of power
Speaker 2: anymore and being a police officer, so I really did
Speaker 2: think that it was going to be okay because of
Speaker 2: the IA investigation.
Speaker 1: Eight months after she filed the case with IA, Sarah
Speaker 1: received a letter. It was from CSPD. It read, in part,
Speaker 1: after reviewing the case, it was determined that the acts
Speaker 1: you complained of were justified, legal proper, and adhered to
Speaker 1: department policy.
Speaker 2: It was he was exonerated. It didn't happen.
Speaker 1: This was the same department that found probable cause to
Speaker 1: send this case to the DA. They knew that Sarah,
Speaker 1: their former employee, had moved her children to a safe house,
Speaker 1: and now they had a family court judge's findings in
Speaker 1: hand that said Glenn Thomas had committed domestic violence. But
Speaker 1: somehow Glenn's actions were justified, legal proper, and adhere to
Speaker 1: department policy. And while we're talking policy, we took a
Speaker 1: look at the Employee Handbook. Section four hundred, the one
Speaker 1: Glenn was exonerated on, says officers must live by the
Speaker 1: Law Enforcement Code of Ethics. They take an oath. It
Speaker 1: reads in part, As a law enforcement officer, my fundamental
Speaker 1: duty is to serve humankind, to safeguard lives and property,
Speaker 1: to protect the innocent against deception, the weak against oppression
Speaker 1: or intimidation, and the peaceful against violence, or to while
Speaker 1: performing my duties, I will maintain courageous calm in the
Speaker 1: face of danger, develop self restraint, be truthful, and be
Speaker 1: constantly mindful of the welfare of others. Sarah was hurt
Speaker 1: by the department's failure to discipline Glenn. She had hoped
Speaker 1: her history at the CSPD would temper the favoritism he
Speaker 1: so often received.
Speaker 2: The disappointing part to me was that d C. Edmondson
Speaker 2: signed off on it and Chiefasquez signed off on it.
Speaker 3: Like d C.
Speaker 2: Edmondson was one of my trainers in the academy and
Speaker 2: Chief Fasquez was my sergeant for years in Dea, So
Speaker 2: I felt like there might be less bias towards one
Speaker 2: or the other of us because I knew these people
Speaker 2: really well too. But it definitely diffirms my I believe
Speaker 2: that Glenn Thomas in particular has a very very special position.
Speaker 2: It's CSPD.
Speaker 1: So what line would Glenn have to cross in order
Speaker 1: to lose favor with the department. At the heart of
Speaker 1: this season is one question. How was Joel Kern able
Speaker 1: to do what he did to betray his family, his colleagues,
Speaker 1: and his community for so long? During our reporting, we've
Speaker 1: learned that Joel wasn't the only officer who knew he
Speaker 1: could get away with misconduct. This was a culture problem,
Speaker 1: not an isolated case. We've heard from former staff that
Speaker 1: there are certain employees who are untouchable, protected by the
Speaker 1: badge and by the brass. These are people who don't
Speaker 1: fear consequences because if you're one of the golden few,
Speaker 1: there are no consequences. Following Glenn Thomas's exoneration in his
Speaker 1: IA case, Sarah tried to move forward. She focused on
Speaker 1: her job and her kids, but Glenn was still a
Speaker 1: part of her family's life. By court order, he had
Speaker 1: limited custody of their ten year old daughter. Two years
Speaker 1: into this arrangement, in October twenty twenty four, their daughter
Speaker 1: confided in her therapist. She said her dad had touched
Speaker 1: her inappropriately.
Speaker 2: Her therapist reported to DHS. DHS reported to Woodland Park PD.
Speaker 2: Woodland Park PD opened an investigation on it. Glenn lived
Speaker 2: in Woodland Park.
Speaker 1: It's a small town about thirty minutes outside of Colorado Springs,
Speaker 1: but the Woodland Park Police Department was a different ball field.
Speaker 1: Glenn didn't work for them. They asked him to come
Speaker 1: in for an interview to explain his actions. He denied
Speaker 1: the allegations, and then he did something unthinkable.
Speaker 2: He just went to my daughter's school and confronted her
Speaker 2: and told her that she's a liar.
Speaker 1: He may have been fueled by anger or distress, but
Speaker 1: before the confrontation, Glenn had the presence of mind to
Speaker 1: call CSPD colleagues for advice.
Speaker 2: He called two different people within the department who specifically
Speaker 2: told him do not go to her school on his
Speaker 2: way down there. So, yeah, he was looking for support
Speaker 2: and affirmation on what he was doing, and he didn't
Speaker 2: get it, and he still went.
Speaker 1: Later, at an emergency custody hearing, he changed the story,
Speaker 1: claiming a command told Glenn he should go down to
Speaker 1: his daughter's school. These emergency proceedings were happening in parallel
Speaker 1: to Glenn's criminal case, and at this emergency hearing.
Speaker 2: On the stand, he said that this commander had told
Speaker 2: him he should go to the school and talk to
Speaker 2: because he was supposed to have visitation the next day,
Speaker 2: and so he was like, she told me I should
Speaker 2: go and get a witness and like smooth things over
Speaker 2: with her so that then we could have a good
Speaker 2: visitation like the next day. In fact, what happened is
Speaker 2: the person that he mentioned had told him do not go.
Speaker 2: Wait for things to shake out, like don't push it,
Speaker 2: just don't go, but for sure, don't go to the school.
Speaker 1: He lied on the stand and he put blame on
Speaker 1: the CESPD. It was at this hearing that Glenn's visitation
Speaker 1: rights were taken away, but perhaps this was also a
Speaker 1: turning point in Glenn's relationship with CSPD. Glenn Thomas was
Speaker 1: starting to seem less like an asset and more like
Speaker 1: a liability to the department, especially once the news got
Speaker 1: a hold of the story. We have an eleven breaking
Speaker 1: news alert just into our newsroom.
Speaker 2: We just learned that a Colorado Springs police officer is
Speaker 2: now under arrest.
Speaker 4: He was accused of inappropriate sexual contact with a minor
Speaker 4: in Woodland Park.
Speaker 1: Thomas later confronted the alleged victim at school about those accusations,
Speaker 1: telling the miner to change the story.
Speaker 2: Sergeant Thomas is accused of violating a protection order and
Speaker 2: intimidating the victim involved.
Speaker 5: Thomas is assigned to the Duy Unit and was taken
Speaker 5: into custody earlier today.
Speaker 1: Because of the lies Thomas told in the emergency hearing,
Speaker 1: the DA put him on the Brady List. It's a
Speaker 1: list of police officers who have lied, falsified evidence, or
Speaker 1: committed other misconduct anything that would undermine their credibility as
Speaker 1: a witnesses. The DA has to notify opposing counsel any
Speaker 1: time they use an officer from the Brady List as
Speaker 1: a witness. In other words, Thomas is now marked as
Speaker 1: a liar in the courts. As for the criminal charges,
Speaker 1: Glenn has to go to trial and could even receive
Speaker 1: prison time. The Woodland Park PD dropped the sexual assault
Speaker 1: charge they couldn't find the evidence they needed to make
Speaker 1: the charge stick, but the intimidation of a minor witness
Speaker 1: and the violation of a protection order. Those charges were
Speaker 1: in Colorado Springs jurisdiction due to the location of the
Speaker 1: daughter's school, and this time finally CSPD took the allegation seriously.
Speaker 1: Glenn Thomas's trial is set for the end of July,
Speaker 1: but until then he still remains employed at CSPD and
Speaker 1: he can continue to testifying cases for the DA. We
Speaker 1: asked the DA director about whether they'll be putting Glenn
Speaker 1: on the stand, knowing what they know now. They responded, quote,
Speaker 1: we can't speculate on this topic. We can only confirm
Speaker 1: mister Thomas is on the Brady List, and that his
Speaker 1: appearance at this time on the Brady List would not
Speaker 1: preclude him from participating as a witness in court. So
Speaker 1: why are we telling you about Glenn Thomas Because there
Speaker 1: are clear similarities with Joel Kern's case. Both had long
Speaker 1: standing ties to the CSPD, both operated by their own rules,
Speaker 1: and in each case, someone put themselves on the line
Speaker 1: to raise a red flag, warning the department that these
Speaker 1: men couldn't be trusted, but they still wore the badge.
Speaker 1: We asked Major Franklin, who we heard from at the
Speaker 1: top of the episode, about these dynamics.
Speaker 4: We're supposed to be a profession that is trusted, so
Speaker 4: we should begin within our own ranks developing a very
Speaker 4: high level of integrity. But we've developed this stop snitching,
Speaker 4: don't snitch on your peers, and it's a culture that
Speaker 4: I don't think has changed over many, many, many many decades.
Speaker 1: As a former cop himself, Major Franklin can see how
Speaker 1: this culture has sustained itself for so long.
Speaker 4: One of the main reasons is the camaraderie. We have
Speaker 4: done a very good job in policing of isolating ourselves
Speaker 4: from community at large. You know, we go to police
Speaker 4: barbecues and primarily the folks who are at the police
Speaker 4: barbecues are police officers and immediate family members. Weddings is
Speaker 4: the same way. If you really examine many of the
Speaker 4: wedding parties for police officers, they are police officer and
Speaker 4: the wedding parties. So we've done a very good job
Speaker 4: of isolating ourselves this closely knit group of cops. The
Speaker 4: culture in the street is that they back each other
Speaker 4: up no matter what for the most part.
Speaker 1: In our last episode, we also introduced you to Claudia Aldrich.
Speaker 1: She runs the Police Officer's Whistleblower Network. Her social media
Speaker 1: posts call out the CSPD for what she sees as
Speaker 1: massive hypocrisy. She says there's no benefit to reporting a
Speaker 1: fellow officer for misconduct.
Speaker 2: Who is going to want to do that because doing
Speaker 2: that puts their career on a big red spot.
Speaker 1: Major Franklin says he has seen employees step up to
Speaker 1: try and stop rumers and corruption.
Speaker 4: They will report, but you know what, many of them
Speaker 4: have paid the price for it.
Speaker 1: Former CSPD officer John was one of them. His efforts
Speaker 1: to raise red flags and create meaningful change at ESPD
Speaker 1: were met with frustration and even outright anger by those
Speaker 1: in leadership, and eventually he got tired of fighting.
Speaker 6: I finally had come to the realization that I wasn't
Speaker 6: going to make a difference at CSPD. I couldn't make
Speaker 6: any changes. I was never going to get into a
Speaker 6: position where I could affect change.
Speaker 1: The culture at CSPD prevails. It's a culture that's driven
Speaker 1: out stand up public servants like John, and it seems
Speaker 1: like he isn't alone. A local news station was able
Speaker 1: to get a hold of an employee morale survey. It
Speaker 1: was given by the Colorado Springs Police Protective Association back
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three. It painted a bleak picture.
Speaker 5: A new question in the twenty twenty three survey version
Speaker 5: asked if these sworn staff members were considering leaving CSPD
Speaker 5: within the next five years, sixty three percent saying yes.
Speaker 1: John recalls Joel Kern's feelings on morale when they work together.
Speaker 6: So at first, Joel Kern was somebody that I could
Speaker 6: look up to and trust, and he was very skilled
Speaker 6: in that arena of investigation. And then as time went on,
Speaker 6: things really really started to change. Kern would say things like,
Speaker 6: morale is a personal problem, and from a guy with
Speaker 6: a management master's degree, I will tell you that one
Speaker 6: person with a morale problem is a personal problem, but
Speaker 6: when it's systemic across an organization, that's a leadership problem.
Speaker 6: And that was the mantra that the brass kept saying.
Speaker 6: If the morale here is poor, that's your fault.
Speaker 1: John's experience has proved that not everyone at CSPD agrees
Speaker 1: with its culture. There are officers currently on the force
Speaker 1: who are disillusioned with how the department disciplines its employees.
Speaker 1: I wondered if the dedicated CSPD investigators who tried to
Speaker 1: help Sarah and she first reported Glenn were among those
Speaker 1: that it out of the job. Here's Sarah again.
Speaker 2: When I brought the case to them, I gave them
Speaker 2: that disclosure that nothing is going to happen to him,
Speaker 2: like I told them, and they both were like, he
Speaker 2: shouldn't be an exception, he shouldn't be protected. This should
Speaker 2: be just any normal case. And honestly, I think that
Speaker 2: when they found out he wasn't going to be prosecuted,
Speaker 2: it seemed like they were pretty upset about it. It
Speaker 2: felt like they were kind of betrayed along with me.
Speaker 1: In the end, the department lets Sarah down.
Speaker 2: I have so much knowledge and so much experience and
Speaker 2: so much information about how the criminal justice system works,
Speaker 2: and how CSPD works, and who is who and navigating
Speaker 2: all of these situations would be imposed without that. So
Speaker 2: again I'm heartbroken for the people that are victims and
Speaker 2: don't have my special set of skills and knowledge and information.
Speaker 2: If it hadn't been for some of that information, again,
Speaker 2: he would be getting away with all of it.
Speaker 1: Here's former CSPD employee Barbigan.
Speaker 5: If you have no integratary in your personal life, why
Speaker 5: would you have integrity in your public life. If you
Speaker 5: will lie about little stuff, you'll lie about big stuff.
Speaker 5: If you lie about big stuff, you'll lie about bigger stuff.
Speaker 1: It makes us wonder how many Joel Kerns and Glenn
Speaker 1: Thomas's there are right now getting away with potentially criminal
Speaker 1: behavior because their friends on the force are protecting them.
Speaker 1: How many officers have had serious reports of misc cot
Speaker 1: swept under the rug. How many have had internal affairs
Speaker 1: investigations closed without consequence. We'll give the final word to
Speaker 1: Major Franklin.
Speaker 4: We work for you. As citizens, and we are to
Speaker 4: provide a service. We take enough to protect people's constitutional rights,
Speaker 4: and we are one of a very few number of
Speaker 4: people occupations in this country who have the ability and
Speaker 4: right to take your liberty away from you at any
Speaker 4: given second. I want someone who is going to set
Speaker 4: the example for their behavior because they're going to be
Speaker 4: interacting with me, my kids, my grandkids, my nieces, my nephews,
Speaker 4: my relatives, my friends. I'm not asking you to be saints.
Speaker 4: I'm asking you to have integrity. I'm asking you to
Speaker 4: value your position, asking you to raise the level of
Speaker 4: professionalism within your craft. I'm asking you to be the best.
Speaker 4: That's all.
Speaker 1: On the next episode of Betrayal, we go back to
Speaker 1: Caroline's story and we hear about her healing journey.
Speaker 7: No one blames the wife or the spouse or a
Speaker 7: partner for someone's heroin addiction ex except for someone's gambling addiction.
Speaker 7: It's just in this realm of infidelities where there seems
Speaker 7: to be this really strong focus on the betrayed partner.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Betrayal season four. If you
Speaker 1: would like to reach out to the Betrayal team, email
Speaker 1: us at Betrayalpod at gmail dot com. That's Betrayal Pod
Speaker 1: at gmail dot com. Also, please be sure to follow
Speaker 1: us on Instagram at Betrayal Pod and me Andrea H.
Speaker 1: Gunning for all Betrayal content, news and updates. One way
Speaker 1: to support the series is by subscribing to our show
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts. Please rate and review Betrayal five star
Speaker 1: reviews help us know you appreciate what we do. Betrayal
Speaker 1: is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass
Speaker 1: Entertainment Group, in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is
Speaker 1: executive produced by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Fason. Betrayal is
Speaker 1: hosted and produced by me Andrea Gunning, written and produced
Speaker 1: by Carrie Hartman, also produced by Ben Fetterman. Our associate
Speaker 1: producers are Caitlin Golden and Kristin Melcurie. Our iHeart team
Speaker 1: is Ali Perry and Jessica Crincheck. Story editing by Monique Leboard,
Speaker 1: Audio editing and mixing by Matt Delvecchio, editing by Tanner Robbins,
Speaker 1: and special thanks to Caroline and her family. Betrayal's theme
Speaker 1: is composed by Oliver Bains. Music library provided by my
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