EDGEWATER, Colo. — After learning in December that one of her officers was charged with unlawful sexual contact, Blackhawk's Police chief accused the Edgewater Police Department of not being transparent during the hiring process and requested an investigation from the District Attorney's Office.
Blackhawk Police Chief Michelle Moriarty made the request for the formal investigation on Dec. 8, 2022, days after Nathan Geerdes was indicted on five counts of sexual contact and retaliation against a witness.
As a result of the investigation requested by Moriarty, he now faces 10 additional felony charges: Five counts of attempt to influence a public servant and five counts of forgery.
According to an arrest affidavit, on Dec. 12, 2019, while off-duty after leaving a holiday party, Geerdes sexually assaulted a female officer in two separate incidents. Related to those incidents, Geerdes faces two counts of unlawful sexual contact and two counts of unlawful sexual contact – use of force.
According to an arrest affidavit for the new case, directly after the holiday party, the victim told a fellow officer about the incident but that officer waited to report the incident to his sergeant until late summer 2020. When he did, his commander said he would "handle it," but failed to take any further action at the time to address the allegations. It's also noted in the affidavit the commander maintained a close relationship with Geerdes.
In November 2020, the initial officer the victim reported the incident to left the department and told former Edgewater former Police Chief John Mackey about it in an exit interview.
At that time, Mackey directed the commander to address the issues and the commander assigned two others to interview the victim but told them not to record the interview or pursue details related to the sexual assault allegations, the affidavit says.
The document says that on Nov. 19, 2020, the victim disclosed the assault during that interview. She explained she had been afraid to confront Geerdes because he was her supervisor.
On Dec. 24, 2020, at the direction of the then-chief of internal affairs (IA) an investigation was opened, however during the course of that investigation, Geerdes was never placed on leave, the affidavit says. It also notes that Geerdes was known to have "unrestricted contact" with the victim.
Geerdes formally submitted his resignation from Edgewater Police on Feb. 24, 2021. His last day was March 15 of that year.
According to the affidavit, prior to Geerdes' resignation being made public to the department, the commander told another employee to remove Geerdes from the schedule "indefinitely". He explained not to remove his name to avoid suspicion from other officers.
Sometime between Feb. 16 and Feb. 21, according to the affidavit, the commander met with Geerdes and another officer at a restaurant and told Geerdes he needed to resign or he was going to be fired and that's "going to be worse for you."
Geerdes ultimately resigned in lieu of being fired amid that IA investigation.
On Dec. 28, 2020, an independent investigator was retained by the City of Edgewater to investigate the allegations of misconduct by Geerdes. The investigation was completed in February 2021 and written findings were issued.
According to an arrest affidavit for the new case, Geerdes applied to five other police departments in Colorado following his resignation. They include:
- Douglas County Sheriff's Office
- Arvada Police Department
- RTD Transit Police Department
- Dacono Police Department
- Black Hawk Police Department
On all of those applications, Geerdes answered "no" to a question that asked whether he'd ever been asked to resign in lieu of being fired, the affidavit says. On some of the applications he wrote he had left Edgewater PD to "spend time with family" or that he wanted to work for a bigger department.
When he applied to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office he made a reference to "specifically" wanting to work for that agency.
According to the affidavit, when Geerdes applied to work at Arvada Police he represented himself throughout the application and testing process as a "current" sergeant with Edgewater PD. However, when he came into an interview on March 25 he noted that he had resigned "since they last met," even though he had put in his resignation with Edgewater PD before applying to Arvada PD.
The affidavit also noted "inconsistencies" in the hiring process for Arvada PD between what Geerdes said and what other members of the Edgewater Police said.
An investigator looking into the background of Geerdes on behalf of RTD police found that his IA file was "empty" even though he knew Geerdes had been the subject of an IA. The investigator later questioned the commander about that and was handed a "summation report" and was told that was the "only documentation available."
The investigator spoke with others at the department who expressed that the sergeant was "very close" with Geerdes and had "impaired" the IA investigation from the "beginning," the affidavit says. An officer also said that Geerdes was seeking "retribution" from officers who had testified against him in the IA investigation.
One officer who had retired from the department said the commander approached him and asked him to "promise" to give Geerdes a good recommendation related to his application to the RTD Transit Police. The retired officer said he would be "honest" and would not "sugar coat" anything.
The sheriff's office, Arvada Police, and RTD Transit Police all declined to hire Geerdes. A background check report for the RTD Transit Police wrote there were "concerns" expressed about Geerdes' "integrity and honesty" and he was discontinued from the hiring process.
Geerdes withdrew his application for the Dacono Police Department after learning he was hired by Blackhawk Police.
When interviewed later, Blackhawk's police chief said after Geerdes applied she "coincidentally" ran into then Edgewater Chief Mackey who he would highly recommend him [Geerdes]," the affidavit says. Moriarty recalled during the conversation a comment was made that Geerdes left under "unfortunate circumstances" but that those comments were not clarified and she understood from the interaction that Mackey gave a "positive" endorsement to Geerdes.
Afterward, she became aware of an IA incident described in Geerdes' application and felt Geerdes had "downplayed" it. She directed a review of Geerdes' personnel file which indicated there had been no allegations of sexual misconduct.
Ultimately Geerdes was hired to work there on September 27, 2021, and worked there through Dec. 6, 2022, when Moriarty learned he had been indicted.
Two days later, on Dec. 8, 2022, she requested an investigation and said she felt "misled" about information relevant to making "informed hiring decisions." She went on to say she had "concerns that their [Edgewater PD] past administration knew of the information, downplayed it, and failed to provide it to my department."
9NEWS has reached out to the Edgewater Police Department for comment but has not yet heard back.
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