JOHNSTOWN, Colo. (KDVR) — The former second-highest-ranking officer in the Johnstown Police Department has been arrested for felony stalking.
Aaron Sanchez, 48, was a commander when the department fire him on Sept. 15. He was arrested by Weld County Sheriff’s deputies on Thursday, Feb. 3.
At his bond hearing Friday afternoon, the defense attorney for Sanchez called his case a “personal grudge match” between Sanchez and Johnstown Police Chief Brian Phillips.
FOX31 is not identifying the alleged victim, but prosecutors in court said Sanchez followed the woman in his police car and had collected data about her, her home, her three children and even her children’s extracurricular activities. When confronted by his boss, prosecutors say Sanchez merely commented that he needed to be “less visible.”
The stalking allegedly took place from Dec. 1, 2019, to July 2, 2021.
But Sanchez’s defense attorney told the judge the last case of alleged stalking on July 2, 2021, merely consisted of the victim driving past Sanchez in the opposite direction and he added that wouldn’t be unusual in the small town of Johnstown.
Sanchez’s defense attorney went on to say the alleged victim did not want to cooperate in the internal affairs case initially and the entire case stems from “an angry police chief who was on the verge of resigning.”
The Problem Solvers do not know what the defense attorney’s comments may be in reference to. The town of Johnstown has not yet responded to questions about accusations of a grudge between the chief and his former No. 2 officer.
Sanchez made his first court appearance Friday afternoon and was given a $50,000 personal recognizance bond, which means he will not have to post a penny to post bond as long he signs paperwork promising to appear at his next court appearance.
Weld County prosecutors sought a $75,000 cash surety bond, telling the judge Sanchez’s behavior was “brazen” and he was still a threat to the victim.
The judge signed a restraining order to keep Sanchez away from the victim and her children and ordered him under GPS electronic monitoring, but he agreed with a pretrial services recommendation to give Sanchez the personal recognizance bond because he has no prior criminal history.
Sanchez is married with young children, according to his defense attorney, and has served for more than 24 years in law enforcement. In 2019, he was assigned to lead the neighboring Severance Police Department for a few months after that town’s police chief was placed on unpaid leave.
Sanchez is due back in court March 30.