Half of a Colorado sheriff’s department have been indicted on charges including the abuse a corpse.
Costilla County Sheriff Danny Sanchez, 63, resigned after he and former deputy Keith Schultz, 45, were charged Friday with four counts of official misconduct and one count of abuse of a corpse due to their handling of human remains on October 2, 2024, 9 News reported.
A resident of Costilla County, just north of the New Mexico border, had called the sheriff’s office that fall to report finding human remains, including a skull, teeth and other bones.
Sanchez and Schultz, who resigned last fall, came to the property and collected the skull, but left behind the other remains, according to a grand jury indictment.
“Sheriff Danny R. Sanchez was present at the time of collection, but was only on scene briefly and was reported to be more interested in looking for arrowheads than investigating the human remains,” the indictment stated.
The coroner’s office later received the skull in what “appeared to be a used paper grocery bag, not a forensic evidence bag,” according to the indictment.
The bag had “no markings or labelling describing the items, the date or location of collection, the identity of the collector, or the chain of custody related to the evidence, and had no tape or seals to protect the integrity of the evidence.”
The resident who found the remains followed up with the sheriff’s office about their investigation but was told the case was closed. He then requested the police report, which was written on December 31, 2024, nearly three months after the discovery.
The resident contacted the 12th Judicial District Attorney’s Office on August 18, 2025, prompting the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to return to the property the next day to collect the remains that were left behind, according to the indictment.
Three other employees of the sheriff’s office were also indicted Friday on charges from a separate incident.
Undersheriff Cruz Soto, 43, Sergeant Caleb Sanchez, 25, and Deputy Roland Riley, 31, each face charges related to the use of force against a person experiencing a mental health crisis, according to the report.
Caleb Sanchez is the son of former Sheriff Danny Sanchez. The grand jury indictment in that case says that Caleb Sanchez and Riley deployed Tasers on a man having a mental health crisis at the sheriff’s department.
Soto was standing next to the deputies as they deployed the Tasers and did not do anything to stop them, according to the affidavit. The deputies involved did not inform the sheriff of the incident, did not document the event and a use-of-force investigation was never conducted.
The younger Sanchez and Riley were each charged with second-degree assault, a felony, and third-degree assault, a misdemeanor. Soto was charged with third-degree assault and two counts of failure to report force — both misdemeanors — and four counts of official misconduct.
In announcing the indictments, 12th Judicial District Attorney Anne Kelly said she’s committed to investigating and prosecuting crimes, regardless of the offender.
“I cannot and will not ignore violations of the trust that a community should have in their police. No citizen of the San Luis Valley should have any doubts about the integrity of their police force,” Kelly said during a Friday news conference.
An emergency county commissioners’ meeting was held Monday to appoint Joe Smith, a current sheriff’s office employee, as the temporary sheriff. Voters will pick a new sheriff at the November election.
There are seven law enforcement officials on staff at the Costilla County Sheriff’s Office, according to the Associated Press. The undersheriff and deputies indicted in the case are on administrative leave.
Danny Sanchez, Soto, Riley and Caleb Sanchez are due in court Wednesday morning. No court date had been set for Schultz.
