Week of March 23, 2026: A late POST database update of a former deputy having almost 130 charges of child abuse and sexual assault dismissed in a plea deal

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. They are not necessarily all actions that have happened in the last week, but those that have been added, and consist of any other context I could find.

This week didn't have much information from records requests yet, with one late addition to the database.

John Dent (CO-133521)

• Resigned in lieu of termination for cause as a deputy with Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office on March 24, 2026
• No known former agencies
• No previous actions

Sources:

• POST Database

Carlos Bowdre (CO-001-473)

• Voluntarily relinquished certification on March 26, 2026
• Terminated for cause from Wheat Ridge Police Department on Aug. 27, 2025
• New recruit for WRPD in July 2023
• Former deputy with Larimer County Sheriff’s Office

Sources:

• POST Database
• LinkedIn profile

Marcus Festi (CO-980-131)

• Given a subject of a criminal charge action on the POST database on March 25 for a criminal case where Festi pled guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child and child abuse causing serious bodily injury back in October 2025
• Almost 130 other charges varying between sexual exploitation of a child and sexual assault were dismissed in a plea deal
• Resigned while under investigation from Las Animas County Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 7, 2022

Sources:

• POST Database
• Court records

Officer Updates:

Often there isn’t time for records requests to come in for a given officer 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 those updates come in, we’ll put them here.

Guadalupe Arellano (CO-9144-6049)

• Terminated for cause as a corrections officer with Prowers County Sheriff's Office on Feb. 13
• Violated numerous internal policies as outlined in her termination letter including:
  • 202 Supervision of Inmates
    • “Numerous times on Jail video, you and other deputies would leave the facility to do perimeter checks, leaving no deputy in the jail except for the newest deputy in the control room.”
  • 502 Inmate Reception
    • “A search was not done on arrestees several times. Nearly all of the arrested persons were not searched appropriately and handcuffs were removed before most searches.”
  • 504 Inmate Safety Checks
    • “Most nights after lockdown safety checks would be done 2 times a night” when a check every 30 minutes or more is required.
  • 511 Control of Inmate Movement
    • “Several times inmates were allowed to go into the property room without supervision, on one incident a male and female inmate were allowed to go to the nurse office with no supervision for 30 seconds, on another occasion you allowed Deputy Barry to go into the property room with a female inmate who when she came out, had her pants around her knees. Although I do not believe any criminal or sexual activity occurred, it appeared she may have been putting on a sweater.”
  • 109 Standards of Conduct
    • “Numerous times on your shift, staff would leave the facility for 5-10 minutes, leaving 1 person in the control room. 2 times there were arrested persons brought in on your shift and no searches were done. In a majority of arrested persons coming in on your shift, the arrested person was uncuffed before a search was even attempted or completed.”
  • 109 Standards of Conduct
    • “While watching video of your shift, nearly every night, you would leave the new deputy in the booking area, or in the control room, while the rest of your shift was in the control room or in the booking area. When he would go to the booking area, nearly every night, the rest of your shift would go into the control room, leaving him alone in booking. Every shift, your staff would leave to get snacks for everybody. I did not see a single time where you brought a drink or a snack for the new deputy.”
  • 109 Standards of Conduct
    • “On 1/13/26, you left the jail at 1139 and did not return until 0118 hours. For 1 hour and 40 minutes, you were gone from your shift with no permission or approval. In your time sheet you have claimed all 12 hours rather than 10 hours and 20 minutes. There is also no notes in your shift log indicating why you left for 1 hour and 40 minutes before you came back to work, nor is there any indication that this was approved. It appeared you came back with a brown bag of food, after your shift mates had left two other times that night to grab snacks and drinks.”
  • 109 Standards of Conduct
    • “On 1/6/26, during a Sgt Meeting, you told other Sgts and myself that you leave the new Deputy in Control because he is not learning anything. I specifically told you that you could not do that, and that you needed to train him in the jail on day to day duties. On 1-7-26, which was the next day, you left him in control for 11 of his 12 hours on shift. For several days following, you left the new deputy in Control for a majority of his shift. On 1-6-26 and in a December meeting, I explained to all of the Sgts that failing to train staff would potentially bring a civil suit on the county and potentially on that supervisor and nothing changed with your shift, while you continued to neglect your duties to train the new deputy.”

Sources:

• POST Database
• Termination Letter