CBI director did not give favors to agent who used racist slur, outside investigation finds

An outside investigation found Colorado Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Schaefer did not give preferential treatment to an agent who used a racist slur, even though the two were close friends.

Rather, Schaefer removed himself from the investigation into the agent at the outset and did not participate further in the probe or disciplinary process, the outside investigation found, according to documents released Monday by the CBI.

The CBI hired Flynn Investigations Group to look into several allegations against Schaefer in late November, after an internal affairs investigation found that CBI Agent Douglas Pearson unintentionally recorded himself using a racist slur aimed at Black people during a phone call with his wife while he was on duty in February.

Pearson kept his job despite using the slur, and some speculated that Schaefer — Pearson’s longtime friend — might have had a hand in the investigation and disciplinary process.

The outside investigator found Schaefer did not improperly shape the investigation. Rather, Schaefer assigned the investigation to an agent who did not know Pearson, and then had no further involvement in the case, the outside investigator found.

A different leader at CBI determined the discipline against Pearson: CBI rescinded a pending promotion for Pearson and required Pearson to complete 40 hours of anti-bias and sensitivity training, the outside investigator found.

“In fact, the evidence for the investigation was so straightforward and irrefutable that it is difficult to imagine how (Pearson) could have been treated favorably regardless of who had conducted the investigation,” outside investigator David Vogel wrote in his report.

Vogel also investigated allegations from CBI employees that Schaefer himself used a racist slur in a conversation at work roughly 15 years ago, that Schaefer made a condescending comment about Gov. Jared Polis’ sexual orientation around 2018, that Schaefer pursued private business ventures while on the clock for CBI, that Schaefer transferred a Black agent in an attempt to push the agent out of CBI, and that Schaefer inappropriately accused an agent of leaking details of Pearson’s misconduct to the media.

Vogel found each of those allegations to be unfounded — that is, there was not enough evidence to show the allegations actually happened — according to the reports provided by CBI. Schaefer also adamantly denied each of the allegations. He said the claim he wanted to push the Black employee out of CBI was “a lie.”

“That’s (expletive),” he said, according to the outside report.

In one instance last fall, after Pearson’s misconduct became public, a CBI employee told his boss that he’d heard Schaefer use the same racist slur during a conversation in which Pearson was present some years ago.

“I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I’ve heard the director use those words before,” the employee said, according to the report. The employee was not identified by name in Vogel’s report.

When the supervisor started an investigation, the employee who’d made the comment backtracked, telling Vogel he couldn’t remember exactly what was said. Other potential witnesses who the employee thought were present during the conversation did not remember Schaefer using the slur, Vogel found.

The employee said his comment had been “blown way, way, way out of proportion” and that he did not want to start an investigation into Schaefer.