[FL][CO] I SPY Colorado's resigned-before-he-was-fired Trooper John Oreolt

What's new? Nothing much.
Colorado State Trooper John Oreolt QUIT before he was FIRED so he could go somewhere else to find a job in law enforcement. [He wants to serve and protect Florida now.] You could argue that he wasn't going to be fired - that he was just being demoted & transferred to a desk job. But State Representative Bernie Buescher was hot on his tail and not about to let it go.

FROM 2005: A Colorado State Patrol sergeant who propositioned a motorist that he pulled over has been demoted to corporal.... his wife told a Parachute police officer - and later a Garfield County sheriff's sergeant - that her husband had hit her in the face with his fist, two days after he slammed a cabinet door into her shin. The misdemeanor domestic-violence charge against Oreolt was dismissed three months later "in the best interest of justice," according to court records...

OFFICERS FROM ACROSS THE U.S. AT CHIPOLA THIS WEEK
Chipola News
February 7, 2008
Law Enforcement officers from as far west as Colorado and as far north as New York are on the campus of Chipola College this week hoping to become certified officers in the state of Florida... John Oreolt, a ten-year veteran of the Colorado State Troopers heard about the program through a Florida Highway Patrol recruiter. He says, "The program is about proving your proficiency in high-liability areas. The instructors have been phenomenal. This is a great facility"... For information contact, Steve Anderson at 850-718-2479, or email: andersons@chipola.edu.


MEMORY LANE: ARTICLE EXCERPTS FROM 2005

CSP Officer Demoted Over Sex Request Transcript: Oreolt Discussed Sex During Traffic Stop
TheDenverChannel.com
November 14, 2005
A Colorado State Patrol sergeant who propositioned a motorist that he pulled over has been demoted to corporal. A transcript of a state hearing shows Trooper John Oreolt admitted discussing sex, bondage, and a "foursome" with a woman near a country music event at Grand Junction in June... Lynette Owens, 33, of Las Vegas is considering a lawsuit. "He admitted this was not the first time he had done that," she told the Grand Junction Sentinel. "I don’t think he should be in law enforcement. I think he should be moving on to a different career."

Trooper should be fired, lawmaker says
Harsher penalty urged
Rocky Mountain News
By Ellen Miller, Special to the News
November 18, 2005
A Colorado State Patrol trooper who was demoted for a year hasn't been punished enough and should be fired for propositioning a woman during a DUI stop, state Rep. Bernie Buescher said Thursday. "The State Patrol's reprimand is woefully inadequate... But, under the current Colorado State Patrol personnel rules, he can't be fired. It was a first offense and he had a prior good (performance) record... Should he even be working there? No. But I'm frustrated that we don't have the ability to deal with things outside the normal bounds of behavior... If our personnel rules are in the way, we've got to fix them. State patrol officers are in a position of trust. Every wife and daughter should feel safe, not scared, when they are approached by law enforcement. The role of our officers is to serve and protect"...

Embattled trooper leaving GJ Admission of bad conduct leads to transfer to Denver
The Daily Sentinel
By EMILY MORRIS
November 21, 2005
Colorado State Patrol Trooper John Oreolt, who admitted to sexually propositioning a woman to whom he was giving a courtesy ride, will be transferred to an administrative position at the Colorado State Patrol headquarters in Denver, according to a statement released Monday by the chief of the State Patrol. "I have determined that the best means to mitigate community concerns and increase the supervision of Cpl. Oreolt is to transfer him from his current duty assignment on the Western Slope," said Col. Mark Trostel. "He will be assigned to an administrative position at the Denver headquarters of the Colorado State Patrol"... Following the news of Oreolt's transfer, [State Rep. Bernie] Buescher said he was relieved Oreolt was off the street but questions remain. "I am puzzled at the State Patrol's response. I have been trying to dig into the rules and trying to understand why the State Patrol feels they are this limited. The response I am getting is that they have more flexibility than they are telling me... I don't have enough information right now, just quite honestly... It seems they have more authority than they are willing to use"... [Lynette] Owens, the Las Vegas woman who filed the complaint, said she is relieved to hear Oreolt will no longer be on patrol. "He is still a wacko, if you ask me. But at least he is not out there pushing his authority around, trying to intimidate people"...

Demoted trooper will be transferred to desk job
Rocky Mountain News
By Ellen Miller
November 22, 2005
GRAND JUNCTION - A Colorado State Patrol trooper demoted for propositioning a woman during a DUI stop will be transferred from his patrol job on the Western Slope to a desk job in Denver. Col. Mark Trostel, the chief of the state patrol, announced the action in a news release Monday, in response to last week's comments by state Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, that Cpl. John Oreolt, 45, should be fired... "I'm still not happy. I'll talk to the state patrol in the morning," he [Rep. Bernie Buescher] said Monday evening...

Don't paint all CSP troopers with same brush as Oreolt
The Daily Sentinel
Letters To The Editor
November 23, 2005
Editor... Let us not forget how often they must stand out in the cold, wind, terrible heat, or even pouring rain...
State trooper who sexually propositioned woman resigns
Grand Junction Free Press
Paul Shockley
December 2, 2005
...Trooper John Oreolt of the Colorado State Patrol, recently demoted and due to be transferred to a desk job at the state agency's Denver headquarters, is passing on the move. Oreolt, who's been under fire since the recent disclosure that he sexually propositioned a female Country Jam fan during a traffic stop last June, submitted his resignation Thursday from the Colorado State Patrol...

Demoted trooper quits Lawmaker scolded patrol after woman propositioned by officer during DUI stop
Rocky Mountain News
Ellen Miller
December 2, 2005
...Cpl. John Oreolt, 45, who joined the patrol in 1996, quit late Wednesday, the day before he was to have started work in Denver, Maj. Jim Wolfinbarger said... Oreolt has had other legal problems, court records in two different cases show... Oreolt was jailed briefly in Garfield County when he was attached to the patrol troop there in 1997, after his wife told a Parachute police officer - and later a Garfield County sheriff's sergeant - that her husband had hit her in the face with his fist, two days after he slammed a cabinet door into her shin. The misdemeanor domestic-violence charge against Oreolt was dismissed three months later "in the best interest of justice," according to court records... In another case, Oreolt allegedly submitted a "grossly misleading" accident report that led to a motorist being charged with driving while impaired by alcohol after narrowly avoiding colliding with another trooper's car that had pulled a sudden U-turn in front of him in 2001... Oreolt's reports from the scene failed to mention that a State Patrol car, driven by another trooper, was even involved and "listed it as a one-vehicle accident...