Frankly, it was completely expected. Since December, it has become increasingly clear that the Custer County Sheriffâs Office along with some help later on by the Custer County School Board, had started to engage in a campaign of retaliation against the Wet Mountain Tribune, primarily against yours truly, for reporting on a series of cover-ups and citizensâ rights violations over the past year. Now, I am under criminal investigation. While the Sheriffâs Office wonât comment on its investigation, it is clear from public statements by members of the Sheriffâs Office that they are engaged in a âfishing expeditionâ to find something to charge me with.
Most of the retaliation comes from a leader in the Sheriffâs Office, Sergeant Pete Elliott, who the Tribune exposed for using anonymous Facebook accounts, one of them which pretended to be a 20-something-year-old girl from Pueblo named Jennifer Lewis, to publish lies and accuse a witness in the triple murder trial against Hanme Clark. This, of course, is a serious violation not only of the courtâs gag order (a court order issued to keep the former and now disbarred and disgraced Linda Stanley from discussing case details on television) but also of the general conduct expected of law enforcement.
It should go without saying, but even evil people like Hanme Clark deserve a fair trial, and Sergeant Elliott was using his fake Facebook accounts to try to settle scores he had with his old partner at the Sheriffâs Office, Jason Salbato. Sergeant Elliottâs conduct was ridiculous, and when this author made Sheriff Rich Smith and District Attorney Jeff Lindsey aware of the issues, they proceeded to try to cover it up.
The adage that âthe cover-up is worse than the crimeâ holds true. If District Attorney Lindsey and Sheriff Smith had made Hanme Clarkâs defense team aware of the situation the Tribune had uncovered, which is required by law, not much would have happened. Instead, both proceeded to tell lies not only to the Tribune but also to the court.
Sheriff Smith had pledged an investigation, which he assigned to former and probably fired Undersheriff Susan Barnes, who then assigned it to former Florence Police Chief Mike DeLaurentis, who now serves as âChief of Staffâ in Custer County. DeLaurentis, true to his disgust for journalists, promptly did nothing.
District Attorney Jeff Lindsey decided he needed to one-up the Sheriffâs Office in their cover-up by telling District Court Judge Lauren Swan during a motion about moving the venue of the trial to Fremont County in June of 2025 that, âmost of the people on Facebook making these comments on the Hanme Clark trial probably donât even live or work here.â He said this to the judge, knowing full well that one of the commenters was actually a Sergeant at the Custer County Sheriffâs Office. His lack of candor to the court was shocking as I listened to the court case while enjoying a fine spring day in my hammock. It was at that moment that I knew I was not only dealing with a Sheriffâs Office willing to bury the truth, but that the District Attorney was willing to omit the truth to a Judge, a gross breach of his oath as not only a prosecutor but also as an attorney.
By November of 2025, I had compiled the evidence I needed to publish not only about Sergeant Elliottâs misconduct but also to detail the ongoing cover-up. In a series of court actions, the defense team for Hanme Clark, after reading the Tribune and my ongoing investigation, filed motions seeking additional discovery violations, and Judge Swan ruled promptly that Sergeant Elliott had indeed violated the court gag order and was not allowed to testify in the case. The District Attorneyâs Office was sanctioned again with a discovery rule violation.
As part of these court actions in November and December of 2025, I was subpoenaed to testify about my investigations on December 18. Under oath, I recounted my investigation to the defense and prosecution, and it was clear that the cover-up I had documented was far more damaging than Sergeant Elliottâs actual actions.
When the Sheriffâs Office realized I was going to testify, they reached out to political allies to start the smear campaign. The night before I was scheduled to testify, an ally of the Sheriffâs Office, Steve Rorick, exploded in rage against me on his podcast Red County Blue Nation. I apologize to readers now for the foul language that is going to follow, but it is necessary to demonstrate the consequences of the Sheriffâs retaliation against the Tribune. Rorick said:
âJordan, your ass is toast, too. You stupid fucker. Dumb ass son-of-a-bitch. How can you accuse all these people, and now you’re intimidating witnesses? Dude, you’re toast, dumbass. Just saying, man, just saying⌠Itâs too late for him, poor fucker.â
When I challenged Rorick on his false claim that I had committed a felony against witnesses, he explained that his information had come directly from the Custer County Sheriffâs Office. In an email he sent to me, he said:
âAs far as the intimated a witness that was directly from the law enforcement of this town. If you had any common sense you would approach me and ask me what I knew⌠As far as intimating a witness I will redact that statement but be advised that your in deeper trouble than you realize [not edited and errors left as is].â
I questioned Sheriff Smith after Rorickâs email to ask him if these statements were true. The Sheriff refused to respond. By March 11, Sheriff Smith seemed pleased with Rorickâs statements towards me in the December 17 podcast and asked and received the podcastâs official endorsement to support Smith for Sheriff in the upcoming November election.
Judge Swan expressed grave concern that an Internal Affairs Investigation had never been completed by the Sheriffâs Office. In a panic to limit the damage and not further harm the case against Hanme Clark, District Attorney Jeff Lindsey and Sheriff Smith asked the Chaffee County Sheriffâs Office to investigate Sergeant Elliott.
If there were any remaining doubts that the Sheriffâs Office was retaliating against the Tribune and me, Sergeant Elliott quelled any uncertainty on January 8 when he confidently told the two Chaffee County Sheriffâs Office deputies that I had committed perjury while on the stand on December 18. Of course, he also stated that he had not even bothered to listen to my testimony.Â
To spell out the seriousness of Sergeant Elliottâs statements to those who are going to read this and say, âBut Jordan, just because an officer says you committed a crime does not mean you are under investigation!â So my response to my haters; when officers of the law suspect a criminal act, they have a duty to investigate the crime.
Sergeant Elliott was out of the office recovering from surgery, and the Sheriffâs Office was busy with the Hanme Clark Trial in February and much of March. But as soon as Sergeant Elliott had returned to duty in April, he wasted no time investigating me and running his ever-expanding fishing expedition in the hope that he could vindicate himself if he managed to charge me with a crime.
The Custer County School Board, which includes two out of the five members who are part of the Sheriffâs Office, along with the School Board President, Reggie Foster, who is an employee of the Custer County Government, decided they wanted to join the Sheriffâs attempt to silence a free press.
On March 20, 2026, Sergeant Elliott asked School Board President Reggie Foster if the Tribune had published and accessed files that were âprivileged,â in particular, a collection of documents known as a âBoard Book.â Sergeant Elliott explained that this would have been the May 14, 2024, school meeting âBoard Book. Foster knowingly and maliciously told Sergeant Elliot that, yes, the âBoard Bookâ was privileged information not allowed to be shared with the public until a certain time, when the School Board said it could be released. This was a lie that Foster knowingly made, hoping to score some hits back at the Tribune in Sergeant Elliottâs ongoing criminal investigation into this author. Foster had been encouraged to talk to Sergeant Elliott by another school board member, Cameron Fore, who also helps the Sheriffâs Office.
What Foster purposefully failed to tell Sergeant Elliott is that âBoard Booksâ are a collection of public documents, and all of the information in them is public. A day before most meetings, the school would send out the agenda and the âBoard Bookâ to members of the public. All the âBoard Booksâ are the documents that the School Board members review as they discuss and vote on issues. They include financial reports, letters of resignation by other school board members, and other public information gathered by the school administration.
I had requested a copy of a resignation letter from Former board Member Joseph McCarthy, which is a public document, not realizing that it had been included in the âBoard Bookâ that had been emailed to the Tribune the night before, on May 13, 2024, at 6 p.m.
If the Board Books are suddenly illegal documents that cannot be seen by the public without a vote of the school board, then there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people that the Sheriffâs Office will need to start charging criminally because the school sends out that information freely to everyone. This line of investigation is just pure retaliation by members of the Sheriff’s Office and the Custer County School Board.
Foster knew her statement was a lie, and Sergeant Elliott also knew that âBoard Booksâ were not privileged documents.
In early May, I demanded that the Sheriffâs Office stop this retaliation, but was brushed off by the County Attorney Dan Slater, who, through gaslighting, insisted that I was only trying to receive special treatment because I was a journalist: âYour âfearâ of such unfounded âunlawful and retaliatory actionsâ does not create any immunity from law enforcement. While the CCSO will commit to ensuring no unlawful investigations or retaliatory behavior, the CCSO will not commit to treating you any differently than any other member of the Custer County community.â
The Tribune has been engaged in a lawsuit against the School Board for an alleged illegal excutive session meeing in early 2025 that resulted in the firing of former superintendent Tom Peck. A hearing is scheduled that will decide if the recording is released on June 8, 2026.
My answer to such nonsense from those in power is that I have never asked to be above the law, but I demand the Sheriffâs Office abandon its attempt to be above the Constitution.
Thank you to the many who have reached out to support the Tribune and me over the few weeks as we have publicly revealed the Sheriffâs Office retaliation, and we assure all of you that we will never abandon our mission to promote the community, and we will always hold those who are in power accountable for the damages they continue to inflict on citizens.
Jordan Hedberg
