Week of June 22: Colorado State Trooper Arrested for Multiple Domestic Violence-Related Sexual Assault Charges

Welcome to my weekly sum-up. Every Monday I send out a short summary of the last week’s officers that have landed on Colorado’s Peace Officer Standards and Training public database of law enforcement misconduct and actions. These actions from POST are not necessarily only those that have happened in the last week, but those that have been added, and consist of any other context I could find. Additionally are officers with otherwise obvious misconduct from around the same time.

 This week POST did not upload any actions to their database. Instead, we have a Colorado State Trooper that was arrested, and a few follow up documents shedding light on previously mentioned officers.

Jeremiah Patterson (CO-4184-4814)

• Colorado State Patrol trooper arrested by Loveland Police Department on June 19 for domestic violence-related charges including two counts of sexual assault no consent through force, threat or other; two counts of sexual assault no consent; and one count of second degree assault through strangulation
• Loveland PD news release states that a victim came to them with allegations of sexual assault from 2024, and that it occurred off duty.
• No known former agencies
• No POST actions

Sources:

• Loveland Police Department
• Court records

Officer updates:

Records that must come directly from a law enforcement agency are not required to be released within three business days, as it is with CORA requests to municipalities. Sometimes an officer is added to the database later in the week, and there isn’t time for records requests to come before the newsletter has to be sent out. Sometimes the records we get back are resumes or job applications without much more information, but sometimes they are documents that do lend more important details. Whenever any of these updates come in, we’ll put them here.

Derek Schroeder (CO-137-541)

• Terminated for cause from Lakewood Police Department on June 4
• Updates:
  • Termination letter
    • States that, in March, Schroeder threw a glass at the back of the head of a peer in a bar bathroom in Jefferson County and lied about it when asked by Jefferson County deputies.
    • At the time, the deputies were called as the person did not know who threw the glass at him. Schroeder told deputies he was in the bathroom when he head a glass break, but did not say he threw it. Video evidence showed Schroeder holding a glass and entering the bathroom after the man. A Jefferson County sergeant asked Schroeder if he threw the glass and he said no. The next day Schroeder admitted to the peer that he threw the glass after being upset from losing a sports bet. Schroeder reported this to his supervisor. In later reports, Schroeder “asserted that clarity was achieved after a period of rest and sobriety,” but “the evidence indicates that, at the time of the incident, you were lucid and capable of coherent thought and communication.”
    • Schroeder admitted he lied to deputies, and was found to have violated multiple Lakewood Police internal policies including:
      • Conduct Unbecoming
      • Conformance to Laws
      • Cooperation with other Officers and Agencies
      • Integrity
      • Violation of Rules
    • Terminated for these violations.

Talon Peck (CO-004-945)

• Terminated for cause as a detention deputy with Garfield County Sheriff's Office on May 5
• Arrested May 26 by Garfield County SO for domestic violence-related charges of harassment, two counts of child abuse, and second degree tampering.
• Updates:
  • Internal affairs report summary
  • According to the summary, Peck admitted to lying to a supervisor for the cause of being absent from work and also had a secondary employment without approval.
  • Peck was terminated for “untruthfulness”

Willie Smalls (CO-413-448)

• Terminated for cause as a deputy with Denver Sheriff's Department on April 9
• Previously arrested by the Denver Police Department on Oct. 1, 2024 for domestic violence-related charges of second degree assault through strangulation, third degree assault through knowingly or recklessly causing injury, and three counts of protection order violations. Smalls pleaded not guilty to the second degree assault and was found not guilty by jury trial on May 28, and he pleaded guilty to and was convicted of third degree assault. The protection order violations were dismissed by the District Attorney. He was sentenced to two years probation.
• Smalls was arrested by Lakewood Police Department on April 25, two weeks after he was terminated, for domestic violence-related charges of third degree assault and two counts of child abuse. His next court date is Sept. 7.
• Updates:
  • Arrest affidavit in 2024 domestic violence case
    • According to the arrest affidavit, Denver police responded to a report of domestic violence and spoke with a woman who told officers Smalls had strangled her for almost a minute and at one point made her urinate herself. The affidavit states officers arrested Smalls without incident.