Deputies called in sick — then went to Vegas, records show. Facebook outed them
Two deputies with the Denver Sheriff Department may have gotten away with using "sick days" instead of "vacation time" for their trip to Las Vegas — but then someone posted photos of them to Facebook.
"Social media sometimes works in mysterious ways," Alfredo Hernandez with the Denver Department of Public Safety told Denver7. Hernandez is responsible for deputy discipline, which was needed after an anonymous complaint told supervisors that deputies were abusing sick days, the TV station reported.
That complaint came after photos on Facebook showed deputies Diego Villalpando-Hernandez and Daniel Trujillo in Las Vegas last summer, according to records obtained by 9News.
The deputies called in sick on June 18 and 19, Denver7 reported. Villalpando-Hernandez also left early on June 16 and called in sick the next day, according to a disciplinary letter viewed by the station.
The photos of the deputies in Vegas were posted to Facebook on June 18, KDVR reported. While the deputies did not post the photos to Facebook themselves, they were still tagged in the pictures. A screenshot shows that the post was made "public" on Facebook.
Villalpando-Hernandez told investigators that he really was sick, Denver7 reported, but he said he would have called in sick for his planned trip to Vegas regardless of how he felt.
After he was caught, Villalpando-Hernandez told the department that it was a "selfish act" and that he should have gotten the vacation time approved, according to records obtained by KDVR.
Trujillo said he went to Vegas after calling in sick because he "just needed an escape," KDVR reported.
"This whole trip was just to decompress," Trujillo told the department, according to the station. "I wasn’t even planning on going. My ticket was – and my hotel room was purchased for me. I shared the room with a couple other deputies. And we’re all really close friends. We just – I needed that camaraderie."
Villalpando-Hernandez violated the department's policy regarding feigning illness and for “conduct prejudicial," which means it affected the department's order, according to 9News. Trujillo violated the feigning illness rules.
"It's more than just people calling in sick," Hernandez told Denver7. The station reported the department had to cancel its Saturday Work Program because Villalpando-Hernandez was not there to staff it.
Trujillo was docked 10 percent of his pay for 10 pay periods, KDVR reported, and Villalpando-Hernandez was suspended for six days and fined 10 percent of his pay for 10 pay periods.