Colorado parole officers committed fundamental supervision errors in more than 60 percent of the cases they handled, a review of more than 2,000 audits shows.
The audits, conducted over the past three years and examined by The Denver Post, reveal that failures in parole supervision occur regularly. The extent of the problems may be even greater because the audits include cases that parole officers select to showcase what they believe is their best work.
Parole officer Tristan Robenalt left a parolee with a long criminal felony history untreated after he skipped or failed drug tests or missed therapy sessions 49 times and was arrested twice for shoplifting, according to an audit and corrections records.
The offender, Michael Quintana, who also used cocaine during his parole, would go on to sexually assault a 6-year-old girl during Robenalt's lax supervision, the audit found. Robenalt has since resigned from the parole division of the Colorado Department of Corrections.
"What's the point of even being on parole?" asked the girl's mother, whose name is not being revealed by The Post to protect the identity of her daughter. "I think if he would have gotten in trouble way back then, he would have been back in jail, and the assault never would have happened."
Parole officer Matthew Rock failed to take appropriate action when offender Kou Lo tested positive for cocaine or alcohol use at least 12 times and violated driving restrictions, one audit revealed. Rock also did not conduct a required visit to the parolee's home for more than a year.
Another parolee committed a string of robberies that was highlighted by local newspapers. Parole officer J.D. Pyatt made no mention of the arrest in his electronic parole supervision notes and failed to respond appropriately to earlier cocaine and methamphetamine use by the parolee, another audit stated.
Auditors flagged these and many other problems while conducting nearly 2,000 audits on the work of Colorado's parole officers since the start of 2011. Parole officials released the audits to The Post in response to a Colorado Open Records Act Request.
The audits provide the most comprehensive public look to date at the performance of Colorado's parole system since corrections chief Tom Clements was gunned down at his home in March, allegedly by a parolee who had removed his ankle bracelet five days earlier.
Auditors found that parole officers failed to: ..Continued.. by Christopher N. Osher and David Olinger
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