Police chief at Colorado’s mental health hospital still on paid leave 7 months later

The police chief at the Colorado Mental Wellness Hospital in Pueblo remains on paid leave nearly seven months after he was removed from his position amid an scrutiny by the Colorado Bureau of Study Richard McMorran was escorted out of the mental wellness hospital in late September as the CBI launched a achievable criminal review at the request of the Colorado Department of Human Services The CBI finished its examination and presented the incident to the th Judicial District Attorney s Office in December so the prosecutors could decide whether to bring criminal charges CBI spokesman Rob Low revealed this week The district attorney s office has not demanded CBI to conduct any additional assessment he revealed In December then-District Attorney Jeff Chostner described The Denver Post that the situation was still under review but that he would make a decision on charging in the near future He left office in mid-January at the end of his term New District Attorney Kala Beauvais reported Tuesday that no charging decision has been made This is still a pending and open assessment she noted It remains unclear why McMorran was placed on leave He has collected roughly in salary across the seven months he has been on leave according to salary information obtained by The Post through an open records request The chief is paid annually those records show McMorran did not return a request for comment Wednesday Stephanie Fredrickson a spokeswoman for the Office of Civil and Forensic Mental Wellness within the Department of Human Services disclosed the office could release no information about the personnel matter involving McMorran Related Articles Police chief for Colorado s mental wellbeing hospital under CBI research removed from job How jails and courtrooms became Colorado s mental physical condition safety net and why that isn t working Failures in Colorado s courts mental wellbeing system strand hundreds in vicious cycle of competency process She did not answer a question about why he remains on paid leave The state mental wellbeing hospital s small police department handles criminal matters at the -bed campus in Pueblo The department includes a handful of certified police officers as well as a number of protection guards McMorran remains a certified police officer according to a database of law enforcement officers maintained by the Colorado Peace Officer Standards and Training Board He was appointed as chief in Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day