Moffat County detective involved in violent encounters was previously accused of criminal behavior

Within two years of joining the Moffat County Sheriff’s Office, Kurtis Luster took part in the fatal shooting of a 52-year-old man in downtown Craig and participated in another incident in which sheriff’s personnel intentionally rammed an SUV into a man walking down a country road with his hands in the air.

But people who’ve had run-ins with Luster say he shouldn’t even have been hired by the northwest Colorado sheriff’s office in 2021.

Police reports show the Routt County Sheriff’s Office — where Luster worked before getting hired by Moffat County — investigated him in 2019 for several allegations involving his ex-wife, girlfriends and the men who would later date them.

Luster, along with the Moffat County sheriff, did not respond to requests for comment.

David Roberts, who dated Luster’s ex-wife, told an investigator that Luster said around 2012 that Roberts should stay away from Luster’s ex-wife or he would kill him and cut off his head, according to a report. Roberts told The Denver Post that Luster used to hang outside her house in his patrol car and watch when Roberts was there.

In another report, a former girlfriend of Luster’s told police that he had punched his wife in the face.

A friend of Luster’s, Mitch Locke, now the Routt County coroner, told investigators that Luster believed his wife was cheating on him. Luster asked Locke to borrow some money, and the sheriff’s deputy allegedly told him he wanted to purchase a device that would plug into a phone jack and record calls.

Luster told Locke that he recorded a phone conversation between his wife and her boyfriend, one report states. Locke said he even listened to a short section of the recorded phone conversation.

The Routt County Sheriff’s Office referred the investigation into Luster to the 14th Judicial District Attorney. The assistant DA at the time, Matt Karzen, declined to prosecute the wiretapping case because the alleged offenses occurred outside the statute of limitations, according to a decision letter reviewed by The Post.

The Post requested the 183-page report on the sheriff’s 2019 administrative investigation into Luster’s alleged behavior, but was told it would cost $1,023.52.

An executive summary of the investigation showed the agency examined 19 allegations against Luster. Six were found to be sustained, seven were deemed unfounded, five were not sustained, and one was exonerated.

“Unfounded,” as defined by the sheriff’s policy, means an investigation determines the alleged acts did not occur or are frivolous. Complaints considered “not sustained” are when the investigation determines that there is insufficient evidence to sustain the complaint or fully exonerate the individual in question.

Four of the allegations that investigators sustained — meaning they were found to have occurred — were redacted in the report reviewed by The Post. The only two sustained allegations that were not redacted concerned Luster admitting to having a girlfriend ride with him in his work vehicle without prior supervisor approval.