The former commander of the La Plata County Jail resigned quietly in July the same day officials at the Sheriff’s Office launched an internal investigation into what were eventually determined to be substantiated allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct.

At least 14 women who worked in the jail told investigators that former Cmdr. Ed Aber made comments that were unwanted and inappropriate – and often sexual in nature – to them or in their presence, according to the results of two internal affairs investigations released late last week.

The investigations, conducted by lieutenants in the Sheriff’s Office, also found that Aber failed to follow department policies that require jail staff members to record nonroutine interactions with inmates. Aber regularly had, and failed to record, one-on-one meetings with inmates in his office and, at least once, in a cell of a female inmate.

Allegations that Aber had inappropriate sexual contact with inmates could not be substantiated by two investigations, one conducted internally and another conducted by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

CBI has a second, still ongoing criminal investigation into Aber, a spokesman confirmed.

The Colorado Peace Officer Standards and Training database, which logs complaints, investigations and other actions related to law enforcement officers, states that CBI is investigating Aber for invasion of privacy for sexual gratification – a crime committed when someone takes intimate photographs or video of someone without their consent.

According to the investigation notes of Lt. Joey LaVenture, jail staff said Aber called someone “sexy in a white trash way”; once described to a female employee a dream in which he choked her as a means of explaining what erotica was; and told an employee he sat next to her “because of your cleavage,” among other allegations.

Many of the women who described unsavory interactions with Aber going back many years said they did not formally report the harassment because of fears of retaliation or how it could impact their personal relationships.

On July 23, the day an investigation began and he was placed on paid administrative leave, Aber called Sheriff Sean Smith and tendered his resignation rather than be forced to cooperate with the investigation.

The decision brought to a close what was a largely celebrated career in law enforcement. Aber started at the Durango Police Department in 1997, and left as a captain in 2005 (it was later discovered that he had faced a harassment allegation at DPD as well, which former Sheriff Duke Schirard was aware of when Aber was hired).

In an interview with The Durango Herald, Aber described feeling blindsided by the accusations, apologized to the staff members he harassed and said he wished he had the opportunity to rectify the situation. He did not try to dispute the accusations, noting that to do so would unfairly call into the question perceptions of his actions to which his accusers are entitled.

“I’m not angry at them – it’s how they felt,” he said. “I’m angry at myself that I said something that made somebody uncomfortable. And now, I’m just confused.”

Smith said he is taking stock of what went wrong within the organization that caused his staff to abstain from reporting the misconduct, and is working with officials to change the culture around accountability and transparency.

“It is devastating to me personally,” he said. “I had, based on all of these professional report-backs, absolute trust in this individual. And at the same time, I had a staff being terrorized by this individual.”

This is not the first time Smith has had to addresses a staff member who made inappropriate comments. In 2015, during his first year in office, Smith had to apologize for crude remarks deputies made about a Herald reporter that were inadvertently left on a voicemail.

Jail staff members told investigators that years of harassment preceded the first formal report of Aber’s behavior, which was made by an employee on July 23, 2024, in a meeting with Undersheriff Frank Sandoval. The department immediately launched an internal investigation.

Between about 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., LaVenture and another investigator interviewed the complainant, who had written down the dates of specific comments and incidents involving Aber, and two other women.

Officials informed Aber that he would be placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation at 4:30 p.m. that day.

Aber called Smith to say he would resign effective July 26, rather than endure the investigation.

“I called the sheriff and I said, ‘Sean, I’m not willing to go through an IA investigation over this. I can’t change what somebody’s perception was,’” Aber said.

The first investigation concluded Aug. 8.

LaVenture uncovered multiple revelations, according to the 19-page report, which was moderately redacted to protect the identities of witnesses and complainants.

Chief among them was that Aber had for years behaved inappropriately toward female jail staff members and contractors.

La Plata County officials says they are aware of at least 14 women who experienced harassment, although the number could be higher because the investigation was not exhaustive of everyone Aber worked with over the last two decades. Interviewees were told that compliance with the investigation would be voluntary.

The original complainant told LaVenture and another investigator she was hesitant to dress up and wear makeup because she did not want to attract unwanted comments from Aber.

Another jail staff member described an incident in which Aber whispered in her ear to tell her he was distracted by the tan lines from her swimsuit, which were visible above her collar, and wanted to see all her tan lines. That staff member told investigators she never reported the behavior because she “did not want to get labeled as a snitch, sensitive, or easily offended.”

Although the reports of inappropriate sexual comments were widespread and numerous, several people interviewed offered nothing but positive comments about Aber.

“I can tell you I have never hit on anybody. I’ve never done anything like that,” Aber said. “I can’t tell you that I have not ever said something that somebody could have been offended by.”

Jail staff members also said they observed Aber interact with inmates in a way that raised concerns, but never reported it.

It was common practice for Aber to have inmates in his office outside the secure portion of the jail, often alone. One witness said she walked into the commander’s office to find a female inmate, whom Aber was fond of, under the desk. The witness told investigators Aber stepped back and said the inmate was fixing cords.

LaVenture said that according to policy there likely should have been archived body camera footage from Aber’s day-to-day work in the jail. However, he did not find any when he searched the archives.

The first internal investigation concluded that there were substantiated claims of sexual harassment in the workplace and that Aber had likely violated policy by failing to record nonroutine interactions with a body-worn camera, according to an partial list compiled by LaVenture. It did not appear to officials that staff members’ suspicions rose to the level that they were violating department policy by not making a report.

Undersheriff Sandoval noted that had Aber not resigned, he likely would have been terminated and deemed ineligible for rehire.

Aber acknowledged that “maybe I should have been recording,” but said there was nothing nefarious about his one-on-one interactions with inmates, which, he says, occurred with an equal number of men and women and were part of a personal approach to rehabilitation.

“A lot of these conversations were about trying to connect people with resources, understanding where they're at – their mental health, with their substance use, with other things,” Aber said.

A second internal investigation into alleged inappropriate contact with inmates concluded in September and was referred to CBI.

Investigators with the state agency spoke with two of the three inmates with whom employees thought Aber may have had sexual contact. Both said they never had sexual contact with Aber and one said she was never alone with him.

The investigators concluded there was not enough evidence to support or reject the allegations, according to a Sept. 25 report.

Earlier this month, the Sheriff’s Office once again asked CBI to investigate Aber for potential criminal actions, which is documented in the POST database.

The substantiated reports were a “devastating” realization for Smith. Aber said he was “in shock” when he was told. Both say they wished concerns had been brought forth earlier.

To the public’s eye, Aber was a lauded public servant with a lengthy career in law enforcement who had made strides to improve conditions in the jail and outcomes for people in the jail.

Aber said he is proud of that work – of the lives he saved, the formerly houseless people who are now housed and the way he reoriented the jail to serve people’s needs, rather than punish them.

“They’re human beings that make mistakes,” he said of the people he worked with there.

But within the cinder block walls of the detention facility, Smith now realizes his staff members were observing misconduct, sometimes in ways that raised security concerns, and were too scared to report it.

“One of the most disheartening things for me is that it went on for so long because it didn’t get reported,” he said.

Upon conclusion of the two internal investigations within the Sheriff’s Office, La Plata County’s Human Resources department conducted its own investigation into Aber’s conduct, County Manager Chuck Stevens said.

The results indicated that there was not a cultural problem with regard to how women are treated in the Sheriff’s Office, Stevens said, and the allegations of sexual harassment appear to be isolated to Aber alone.

Aber last attended a training on sexual harassment in January, he and county officials said.

In the months since Smith first learned of Aber’s actions, he has been asking himself: Where did we go wrong? Why didn’t staff members come forward?

Fear, Smith said, has been the clearest answer.

“It’s very difficult when a person is in a position of power, constantly being praised for the work they’re doing, and you’re having this personal thing that’s wrong,” Smith said. “… It’s scary for the people involved to feel comfortable enough when you have this person, at this level, always getting recognition.”

The results of the investigations have already gone a long way in building trust among county employees that allegations of misconduct will be handled appropriately, according to Stevens and Smith. The county makes numerous pathways available through which staff members can report harassment, which were reiterated in an email to all staff sent last week.

Supervisors, department heads, elected officials, human resources, the county attorney’s office and Stevens are all available to receive reports of inappropriate behavior, which can also be made anonymously using the phone number of a hotline which is posted in work areas.

“These kinds of actions are not consistent with our core values. Period. They’re not going to be tolerated,” Stevens said. “The second we find out, we’re going to take swift, decisive action, just as we’ve done. But it’s absolutely a learning opportunity organizationally.”

Smith said he is exploring how increased training might address some of the cultural fears around reporting misconduct.

“There are statements in there that are not acceptable to anybody on any planet in the universe. And anybody should have known that,” Smith said. “All I can say is I wish I’d known earlier.”

In his own reflections, Aber took broad accountability for making people uncomfortable, even if he doesn’t always know how he did so.

“The message I want those individuals to (hear) is I am sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel that way,” he said.

rschafir@durangoherald.com