Former District Attorney Linda Stanley always had confidence in her decisions; no matter what consequences she was facing, she dived deep into a personal faith that there were no coincidences and everything happened for a reason. During an interview in 2021, the admiring podcast host Mike King summed up Stanley’s operational belief system, “I know I am kind of like you, a person of deep faith; there are no coincidences, are there?” Stanley answered, “No. There are not.”
For Stanley, her conviction that there is no such thing as coincidence became a motif. In true Stanley fashion, she failed to respond or show up to a hearing on Friday, March 21, at 4:15 p.m., where District Judge Lauren Swan imposed a $307,264.23 judgment against her for misuse of public funds (covered previously in the Tribune).
The plaintiffs in the case are Fremont, Custer, and Chaffee Counties (Park County did not take part in the lawsuit, but if money is collected, they will get the percentage they contribute to the 11th Judicial District). During the hearing on Friday afternoon, Fremont County Attorney Eric Bellas brought the process server Jonathan Martinez to the stand to give his testimony that he had served Linda Stanley the lawsuit. He stated that he had researched who and where Stanley lived, and when he found her cabin in a remote part of Park County, he “Observed a female individual walking out of the front door of the cabin, and she came up to the window. However, she denied being Linda Stanley and promptly threw the documents in the dirt. Certified mail was also sent to Stanley, which she rejected and returned to sender.
The Tribune reached out to Linda Stanley by telephone and left a message asking for comments.
After the judgment was entered, the Tribune was able to reach Fremont County Commissioner Kevin Grantham for comment. Grantham has been pushing for this judgment against Stanley as he felt the taxpayers owned the money she misspent. “It was good to get it on the record that she had used money that was not hers and that she misappropriated from the taxpayers of the 11th Judicial District. Now, she owes that money to the taxpayers. While it will take work actually to get that money back, we will work to make sure that it is returned to the people.”
-Jordan Hedberg