 Former Arapahoe County Sheriff Patrick Sullivan, right, with his attorney Jessica Schmidt, appeared in Arapahoe County Court, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011, after being arrested on suspicion of trying to trade drugs to a man for sex. At an initial court appearance on Wednesday, a judge raised Mr. Sullivan’s bond to half a million dollars from $250,000 at the urging of the local district attorney’s office. When the Centennial man asked Sullivan to leave and said he was going to call 911, Sullivan told the man "If you want the police I am the police," the man told officers. After a brief huddle with a prosecutor and defense attorney, a Judge William Sylvester this morning doubled Sullivan's bond from $250,000 to $500,000. An investigative report filed in court in support of Sullivan's arrest says officers from the South Metro Drug Task Force, including Arapahoe deputies, used confidential informants and audio and video surveillance in the investigation. Agent Matt Hanagan of the drug task force was brought in to the case and asked two confidential informants who worked with the task force whether they thought they could purchase methamphetamine from Sullivan. On Tuesday afternoon, though, investigators from the same sheriff’s department he oversaw for nearly two decades found themselves monitoring a home near Denver that Mr. Sullivan was seen entering. He was taken into custody and officers found additional suspected meth — a total of 0.7 grams. Mr. Sullivan will face charges of “unlawful distribution, manufacturing, dispensing or sale of a controlled substance,” punishable by up to six years in prison. He declined to say if authorities suspect Sullivan of using drugs, or if others might be charged. Dressed in an orange jail uniform and walking with a cane, a hand-cuffed Patrick Sullivan, 68, watched as a judge raised his bail amount to a half-million dollars and sent him back to the Patrick J. Sullivan Jr. Detention Facility. In 2002, U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo praised him on his retirement, citing Sullivan for among other things being named Sheriff of the Year by the National Sheriff's Association. After the Columbine High School shooting near Littleton and his retirement, he became director of safety and security for the Cherry Creek School District, a position he held from 2002 to 2008. The current sheriff, Grayson Robinson, who worked as undersheriff for Sullivan from 1997 until he took over the job in 2002, said the department was shocked and saddened. Former Arapahoe County District Attorney Jim Peters, who worked with Sullivan, said the allegations against the former sheriff are "totally out of character" for the man he knew and are "hard to believe."
– Former Colorado Sheriff Patrick Sullivan may not be the only person who has a jail named after him, but he may be the only person to get thrown into a jail named after him. The 68-year-old is suspected of offering meth to a male in exchange for sex, reports AP. He was arrested after a sting at his home, and a judge just doubled his bail to $500,000, according to the Denver Post. Sullivan was sheriff of Arapahoe County from 1984 until he retired in 2002, and he was named Sheriff of the Year by the National Sheriff's Association in 2001. Before his arrest, he was best known for being a bit of an action hero: In 1989, Sullivan crashed his truck through a fence to rescue two deputies being held hostage by a gun-toting man, notes the New York Times.