Over eight months before a grand jury indicted half of the Costilla County Sheriff’s Office on various charges, 12th Judicial District Attorney Anne Kelly did not mince words in a special meeting with county commissioners.

“I do not trust the Costilla County Sheriff’s Office,” she said.

The DA, who stood flanked by sheriff’s office employees at a special meeting on July 9, 2025, said her office had been dealing with “drastic instances” of evidence mishandling for multiple months.

Those problems were causing Kelly’s office to dismiss cases, she said – four in the last week. She said in one instance, deputies lost an evidence collection kit in a domestic violence case.

“That domestic violence victim had to hear us say, ‘I’m sorry, but I cannot ethically proceed with the case against your strangler. We cannot proceed against your abuser because I don’t have faith or trust in the evidence we would use against this individual,'” she told the Costilla County commissioners.

Kelly’s district serves several counties, including Costilla in the San Luis Valley, about 150 miles south of Colorado Springs. She said at the time that her office had a full-time deputy dedicated to making the Costilla case docket “salvageable.”

Kelly claimed deputies delayed filing reports, lost evidence like firearms and narcotics, and did not turn on or failed to charge their body-worn cameras.

The presentation adds context to criminal charges leveled at the troubled rural law enforcement agency, where a new sheriff was appointed earlier this week in an emergency meeting. The recent indictments are for alleged incidents that happened after Kelly’s warning to commissioners.

On March 26, Kelly’s office announced that Sheriff Danny Sanchez and former deputy Keith Schultz had each been charged with official misconduct and abuse of a corpse in the discovery of unidentified human remains in August 2025.

Three other deputies, Undersheriff Cruz Soto, Sergeant Caleb Sanchez and Deputy Roland Reilly, were also indicted for assault in a separate incident in February involving a person experiencing a mental health crisis.

Soto and Danny Sanchez defended the office at the 2025 special meeting. Soto claimed evidence mishandling could be blamed on a former “disgruntled” employee, along with unfilled funding requests and a lack of qualified applicants.

“I hate to say it this way, but you get what you paid for,” Soto told commissioners.

Kelly told commissioners the breakdown was “not a money issue.” She said her office was exploring multiple avenues to hold the sheriff’s office accountable, including asking for a state attorney general corruption investigation or an investigation into deputies’ POST certifications. She told commissioners they also had oversight ability tied to the sheriff’s office budget.

“I don’t know what else to do, I really don’t,” she said.

Commissioners at the meeting discussed options for funding evidence storage at the sheriff’s office – a building the board was not certain that the county owned.

Months later, the indictments have gutted the small sheriff’s office. Sheriff Sanchez resigned, while other charged deputies are on leave pending an investigation. Ben Doon, Chief Administrative Officer with Costilla County, said that the office was down to two deputies over the weekend. The county coroner stepped in as interim sheriff.

“It’s certainly left us short-staffed,” he said.

Doon said municipal police in the town of Blanca and the sheriff’s office in neighboring Conejos County had pitched in to respond to calls. On Monday, the county commissioners appointed Joe Smith as interim sheriff. Smith was a Costilla County deputy and the only remaining fully trained employee, according to Doon.

In a public statement, Smith said he entered the role with “a clear-eyed understanding of the challenges we face.” He said that the criminal charges had “shaken the foundations of public trust” and that he would be finalizing interagency partnerships and instituting internal affairs protocols.