The El Paso County Attorney�s Office made secret deals with taxpayer money and then convinced a judge to hide the court cases from the public. That sounds like a Third World despotic regime, not the United States of America. The cases involve questionable actions by a sheriff�s deputy, later fired, but the public isn�t being told who got the money and why. Interim County Attorney Bill Louis said he�s bound by court orders, obtained by his predecessor, sealing four cases � two criminal cases against the people who cashed in and two civil cases filed by the county seeking to close the criminal cases. Louis doesn�t like the arrangement. He wants to release everything, but can�t, he says, without risking a contempt citation or a misdemeanor charge of illegally disclosing criminal justice records. Sometime in late 2006 or early 2007, deputy Shawn Moncalieri did something to two young adults that nobody wants to talk about. It was so out of line, the county didn�t wait for a lawsuit to be filed before paying each of them $20,000. In doing so, then-County Attorney Jay Lauer danced his way around the Colorado Public Records Act by having the checks issued not to the claimants but to their lawyer. The records act requires expenditure of taxpayer money to be disclosed. Then Lauer, who was fired last fall after six months in office, did one better. Reportedly at the claimants� request, he asked a judge to seal the criminal cases and the two civil cases created by that request. Checkmate. On March 6, 2007, the deputy was canned. Lauer told The Gazette he acted appropriately, because, �There was nothing to substantiate what had happened� to the claimants at the hands of the deputy. �It was just, Why did they (deputies) do what they did, and then not once, but twice?� Because Louis is concealing case numbers, the public is in the dark. Here�s why it�s important: It means the county can hand out money without accountability. Was it the sheriff�s nephew who cashed in, or a commissioner�s campaign contributor? Who�s to know? Also, what did the deputy do that was so bad? A Gazette request nearly a year ago for the sheriff�s internal affairs reports on Moncalieri�s actions was denied. Although Louis said he would never structure a deal like this one, access to public records seems to depend on who�s in office. For the record, Louis asserts the county did nothing illegal in deep-sixing a matter that obviously was, at a minimum, an embarrassment to Sheriff Terry Maketa. First Amendment expert Steve Zansberg, who represents The Gazette, is astonished. �In our system of government the public is entitled to know what goes on in this state�s courts, including a judicial decision to seal a criminal file,� he said. �We�re not supposed to take the government�s word for it. That�s why there�s an open-records law.� Zansberg said if Louis wants the information released, he can petition the court to unseal the civil cases. Louis said he�s working on �a defensible legal theory� to enable release of the claimants� names. No word whether he�ll ever say why they were paid off, though. CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0238 or pam.zubeck@gazettedev.gazette.com

Falcon?s Mike Smargie caught a pop-up in foul territory for an out against Fountain-Fort Carson on Thursday at Falcon. Photo by BRYAN OLLER, THE GAZETTE